


The Death of Doctor Jackson

by ScribbleTheCalico



Series: The Death of Doctor Jackson [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-23 04:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4863545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribbleTheCalico/pseuds/ScribbleTheCalico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Daniel is killed in a freak accident, evidence is unearthed revealing that it may have been a deliberate act. While Jack and the rest of SG-1 search for the person responsible, Daniel--who is of course not actually dead--is forced to translate for a power-hungry Goa'uld, and encounters two people that he never thought he would see again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place sometime during season 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SG-1 is exploring a temple ruins when the unthinkable happens.

“Stop it.”

Daniel was only half-serious, but Jack giving him a surprise hug from behind was quite distracting when he had translations to do. “What?” Jack feigned innocence, stroking his hands up and down Daniel’s arms.

“Jack,” Daniel protested, despite leaning into the touch. “I have work to do— _Jaaaack._ ” he added as the other man planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“I’m not stopping you,” Jack replied, nuzzling into Daniel’s neck.

Daniel grabbed onto Jack’s hands, not sure if he wanted to push them away or pull them closer. “What about Sam and Teal’c?”

“They’re on the other side of the ruins.” Jack raised a hand to Daniel’s cheek, turning his head to capture his lips in a passionate kiss.

For a moment, Daniel let him get away with it; then he gently pushed Jack away. “Snugglebutt,” he accused, but his tone was warm.

Jack smiled. “Fine. Go translate. I’ll find something to explore.”

“Have fun,” Daniel said.

“You betcha.” With a last grin, Jack turned and strolled into the next room, whistling.

Daniel watched him go, then resumed his exploration of the room. The writing across the walls was similar to Sumerian cuneiform, and though his progress was slow, he could translate it. The rest of SG-1 was scattered around the temple, happy to explore somewhere without the imminent threat of Goa’uld invasion. For once, Daniel could afford to take a few hours to simply be an archaeologist; he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. As much as he liked Jack’s impromptu cuddles, he could get those any time. Jack could wait.

After ten minutes, Daniel had translated enough of the room to know that it wasn’t terribly important. He could move on and let someone from SG-11 look at it later. He smiled. Being the department head had its perks. Grabbing his notebook and pack, Daniel made his way into the next room, the opposite direction from where Jack had gone.

The room was small, almost like a closet, perhaps six feet by six feet. Daniel gave the inscriptions on the wall a perfunctory once-over and was about to leave when something caught his eye. One of the symbols on the farthest wall was glowing. The longer Daniel watched it, the brighter it grew. It wasn’t a particularly special word—as far as Daniel could tell, it meant “livestock”—but it was the only one shining.

Intrigued, Daniel took a step closer, which was preciously when the walls started quaking and the ceiling collapsed on top of him.

 _“Jack—!”_ was all Daniel managed to shout before his world went dark.

* * *

 

Jack was wandering the temple, creating a mental map of the ruins, when he heard a distant rumbling. _“Jack—!”_ he heard Daniel cry faintly just before an ominous crash resounded across the empty rooms.

Before the echoes had even stopped, Jack was sprinting to Daniel’s last known location. “Carter, Teal’c,” he barked into his radio, “get over here. Three rooms south of the entrance. Hurry.”

“Yes, sir, we heard,” Carter responded. “We’re on our way.”

Jack burst into the room where he had left Daniel at full speed. “Daniel!” he called. Immediately, he saw the pile of rubble that had once been the next room over. “Daniel!” Jack yelled, running over to it. “Daniel! Can you hear me!?” There was no response.

“O’Neill!” Teal’c and Carter rushed into the room behind him.

“We need to clear this out,” Jack ordered, referring to the rubble. “I think Daniel’s under there.”

Teal’c immediately grabbed onto the nearest massive rock and, with Jack’s help, dragged it away. Carter began clearing away the smaller pieces of stone as quickly as she could. The next few minutes passed in tense, concentrated silence as the three searched desperately for any sign of their friend. Jack’s was uncomfortably aware of his own heartbeat.

When Carter shifted a stone to reveal a hand underneath, she gasped. Jack and Teal’c were by her side in an instant, clearing away the rubble until Teal’c was able to grab Daniel by the shoulders and pull him away.

Jack’s heart pounded in his throat and he wasn’t sure he remembered how to breathe as Teal’c reached out to check Daniel’s pulse. After a moment, Teal’c looked up at the other two, shock in his eyes. Quietly, disbelievingly, he spoke the words that they all dreaded to hear: “He is dead.”

And Jack sank to his knees, staring at the lips he had been kissing fifteen minutes ago, uncomprehending in the face of the knowledge that the man he loved was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack struggles to cope with the knowledge that the man he loves is gone forever.

Jack stared unseeing at the notecards in front of him. He vaguely remembered writing them, reading the words—once at the SGC and once at the funeral home—but their meaning never quite registered. He hoped they were good words. Daniel deserved the best send-off possible.

He still couldn’t take it in. Daniel had been in his arms, laughing, kissing him, and not ten minutes later, he was gone. Crushed in the most random, freak accident imaginable. Jack had helped Teal’c carry Daniel back to the Stargate, feeling every place that his lover’s body was broken, each one feeling like a blow to the chest. Frasier had somehow managed to stay professionally detached enough to perform an autopsy, and Hammond had ordered SGs 3 and 11 to conduct a full investigation to determine what had happened, but Jack didn’t care what had happened. It didn’t matter. Nothing did.

The sound of his doorbell startled Jack out of his troubled thoughts. Taking a swig from the beer bottle he didn’t remember grabbing, he rose to answer it.

Once he opened the door, he realized he should have expected this. “Carter. Teal’c.”

“O’Neill,” Teal’c responded, looking even more solemn than usual, his golden tattoo covered with a black beanie. “Major Carter and I are concerned for your well-being.”

Jack was having a hard time keeping up. The individual words made sense, but he couldn’t seem to string them together to make out their meaning. “Huh?”

“Sir, you haven’t been on base in two days,” Carter informed him.

“It’s been that long?” Jack mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Yes, sir, and frankly, we were getting scared.” Carter stared at him with wide eyes. “The last time something like this happened, you took a hockey to stick to General Hammond’s car.”

“See, that’s the thing—last time,” Jack said bitterly. “Why the hell do we do a job like this where people get more than one funeral? How many is this kid at—three? Four?”

“Sir…” Carter had no idea how to respond to that, so she continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “We just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

“ _Okay_?” Jack echoed. “What part of this is _okay_ , Carter?” He could feel the emotion building up in his chest, knew that he should stop, but keep speaking anyway. “What part of _any_ of this is _okay!?_ Huh!? Daniel is…”

He trailed off, unable to say the word, but it hung there in the silence. Somewhere in Jack’s grief-and-alcohol-ridden brain, it registered that they were still standing in the doorway. With a small grunt, he pulled the door open all the way and stepped down the hallway, an unspoken invitation to enter. He peered into the fridge as Teal’c pulled the door shut behind him. “Beer?”

“No, thank you,” Teal’c said quietly, while Carter shook her head. Jack grabbed another for himself, brushed past his guests, and sank into the couch. After a moment, Teal’c settled on the cushion beside him. Carter took the seat opposite them. Awkward silence reigned.

Teal’c spoke first. “Is there anything you require, O’Neill?”

Jack sighed. More than anything he wanted to brush the entire situation off, but he knew that Teal’c’s question was in earnest. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

“Have you had anything to eat today?” Carter asked. Jack held up his beer bottle in response, and Carter sighed. “Anything besides beer?”

“Uh…” Jack considered. “I don’t think so.”

“You need to eat.” Carter rose from her seat and headed for the kitchen. Jack could hear her rummaging around to reheat some leftovers she discovered in the fridge as Teal’c turned to him.

“I do not know how best to comfort you, O’Neill,” he began, “but I know that your current attitude is causing more harm than help. Secluding yourself inside your home and consuming nothing but alcohol will surely make matters worse.”

“They can’t get any worse,” Jack muttered, sipping his beer.

“Indeed they can, O’Neill, and if Daniel Jackson were here, I believe that he would tell you the same.” As Jack buried his face in his hands, Teal’c continued, “Daniel Jackson would not want you to sit here lost in grief until you fade away. He would want you to continue with your life. It will not be easy for any of us, but I believe that with each other, we can—”

“What?” Jack interrupted. “We can _what_ , Teal’c!? Move on? Be happy? Forget about him?”

“Of course not, sir,” Carter said from the kitchen. “But this isn’t—”

But Jack was too far gone to even realize what he was saying. “I don’t give a _fuck_ what you think Daniel would want, Teal’c. It doesn’t matter.”

“O’Neill—”

“It doesn’t matter!” Jack shouted. “Daniel’s _dead!”_

It was as if the word echoed around the house. _Dead dead dead dead dead._ It resounded in Jack’s head over and over, and suddenly, the full meaning of it hit home. _Daniel was dead._ He wouldn’t stroll into the SGC tomorrow morning, he wouldn’t roll his eyes in mock annoyance as Jack played with his hair, he wouldn’t climb into Jack’s bed at the end of a long day saving the world. He was gone. No more. Dead.

The beer bottle slipped from Jack’s fingers. It was spilling across the carpet, but Jack couldn’t bring himself to care. Something wet was sliding down his cheek, which he dimly registered was a tear. He quickly raised a finger to wipe it away. “Daniel’s dead,” he heard himself repeat quietly, fighting the rest of the tears that threatened to spill out.

Teal’c gently rested a hand on Jack’s shoulder. It was like a dam breaking. Within seconds, Jack was sobbing. He felt himself gathered in Teal’c’s arms and pressed his face into Teal’c’s shoulder, aware that he should be embarrassed to be losing it like this but unable to stop. Teal’c said nothing, merely let Jack cry, keeping a friendly arm around his shoulders. Carter pulled the food she was reheating from the microwave and brought it over, gently setting it on the coffee table. Tears welled in her eyes, too, but she somehow managed to keep them at bay.

Jack wasn’t sure how long it was before he finally managed to regain a modicum of control. Gradually, he let the tears subside and breathed deep, shuddering breaths. Reaching up a hand to Teal’c’s arm, he squeezed it in thanks before disengaging himself from the other’s man’s hold and turning to the food Carter had brought him. “You found the leftover Thai?” he asked, straining for a sense of normalcy.

Carter nodded. Jack grabbed the fork and dug in, more to have something to do than anything else, but his first bite made him realize how hungry he actually was. In the back of his mind it occurred to him that he should probably offer Carter and Teal’c some, but they didn’t seem to mind their commander pigging out in front of them. “SG-3 find anything yet?” Jack asked between mouthfuls.

“Not since their last report. They’re due to check in in a few hours.”

Jack nodded, stuffing the last bit of food into his mouth and leaning back. “Thanks, Carter,” he said quietly. She seemed to understand that he meant more than just the food and gave him a small, sad smile in response.

“Do you wish to accompany us back to Stargate Command, O’Neill?” Teal’c asked him.

 _No_ , was Jack’s gut instinct, but he knew that was where he should be. “Okay,” he said after a moment. “I’d like to hear SG-3’s report.”

“Great,” Carter said. “Okay. Good.” She rose to her feet, looking a little uncertain. Jack stood to join her, and before he was aware of what was happening, Teal’c was shuffling him out the door and into Carter’s car. As they drove towards the base, Jack leaned his head against the window, watching the trees fly past. The leaves were starting to change color; they were beautiful, and more than anything else, Jack wanted Daniel there to see them, too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people just don't die, and a certain handsome archaeologist is one of them.

It was dark. Why was it so dark? _Where am I?_ The last thing he could remember was...

 _Oh God. Am I dead?_ Was this what death entailed—floating in darkness for all eternity? No, he could still feel his body. Not dead, then. As usual.

Daniel was lying on his back. He reached up, encountering a ceiling only inches from his face. A coffin? Had he been buried alive? He began to frantically beat his fists against his prison, but before his panic could truly set in, the ceiling slid open and he lifted his arms to shield his eyes from the sudden light.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Doctor Jackson.” Through his haze, Daniel was vaguely aware of a voice speaking to him. An unnaturally deep voice. _Shit._ Hands grabbed onto Daniel’s arms, pulling him from the box and to his feet on the floor. As his eyes adjusted, Daniel saw what he had woken up in—a Sarcophagus. _I better not get addicted to that damn thing again…_ But it wasn’t just a Sarcophagus, Daniel realized. Something was attached to the top, a smaller silvery-white device unlike anything Daniel had seen before. He had no time to observe further, however, as he was abruptly wrenched away and made to stand elsewhere.

“I am told that you require these,” the Goa’uld’s voice continued as something was pressed into Daniel’s hand. His glasses. The grip on his arms shifted to allow him to put them on, but maintained a tight hold. His vision restored, Daniel looked around, trying to take in his surroundings.

His best guess was a Goa’uld throne room, but not that of a System Lord—while the decorations were certainly of Goa’uld design, they were nowhere near as ornate as other throne rooms he had been imprisoned in. A Jaffa with the golden tattoo of a First Prime stood nearby, and two more Jaffa held onto his arms. Daniel had never seen their crest before.

Nor did he recognize the woman standing in front of the throne, watching him intently. As Daniel met her gaze, her eyes flashed gold. Wonderful.

“Where am I?” Daniel asked, his voice coming out a little raspy.

The Goa’uld smiled. “In the presence of your god.”

“Okay, and who would that be? Who are you?”

“My name is Hecate,” the woman said, stepping closer to her captive, “and you are now in my service. Nothing else need concern you.”

Daniel could feel Jack’s sarcasm channeling through him as he gave an experimental tug at his captors’ hold and said, “Uh, I’m a little concerned.”

Hecate smiled again, the creepy smile that all Goa’uld seemed to share. “My First Prime shall explain the rest.” She stepped even closer, a deliberate invasion of Daniel’s personal space. “But before you begin your work, I must inform you that I am aware of your status among the Tau’ri. I am sure that even now, you hold on to the hope that they will find you and rescue you. That hope is a mistake. As far as the Tau’ri know, you are dead.” She leaned in close to deliver the final sentence. “Help is not coming for you.”

Jack would have had a snappy response to that, but Daniel had nothing to say. Hecate’s words were very likely true. If he had been taken from the rubble in the temple, Jack and the others might very well assume that he was dead. However, Daniel did his best to maintain eye contact with a straight face; he refused to let his captor see how scared he actually was.

Hecate watched him for a moment longer, then turned to motion to her First Prime. The man signaled to the Jaffa holding Daniel, and the next thing Daniel knew, he was being half-marched, half-dragged down a hallway and into a Ring Room. He made a brief attempt to wrench himself free, but a violent shake convinced him to stop. The four men reached the center of the circle, activated the Rings, and stood still while they were dematerialized.

The Rings lowered back into the ground, and Daniel found himself inside the archaeological find of the millennium.

It was a temple of some kind, but Daniel had no way of knowing exactly what. Corridors and sequences of chambers stretched away in every direction, sometimes farther than Daniel could see. The place was a gargantuan sprawl of rooms, and the walls were covered in a mess of languages; some were of Earth origin or similar, others were Goa’uld or Asgard based, and still others were unlike anything Daniel had ever seen before. For a moment, Daniel forgot himself and just stared in awe.

Hecate’s Jaffa, however, were not going to let Daniel have his moment. As soon as the Rings cleared, they were pulling Daniel down one of the corridors, almost too quickly for his feet to keep up. The First Prime began speaking as they walked. “You are here for one reason and one reason only,” he began, “and that is to translate. You will be assigned to a team and will copy down any translations you are able to make. There will be a short break at midday for you to eat, and at night you are permitted to socialize.”

“Socialize? With who?” Daniel asked, trying to take in everything being said to him while stepping quickly enough to avoid stumbling.

The First Prime continued as though Daniel hadn’t spoken. “If you are caught away from your team, you will be punished. If you are caught outside of your designated area, you will be punished. If you attempt to escape, you will be punished.” The man sounded bored, as though he had to list these terms often. “You will find an easy life here if you do as you are told and work according to my lord Hecate’s wishes.”

They arrived at a door that had clearly been added to the temple later, as it didn’t match the rest of the design in any way. The First Prime laid his palm against a scanner on the side, and the door slid open to reveal a large with palettes lined up in long rows—Daniel would never even consider calling them beds, but they appeared to be intended for sleeping on. Another open doorway revealed a second corridor on the opposite side of the room.

Very abruptly, Daniel was released, and he stumbled a bit as the Jaffa shoved him into the room. “I have arranged for one of your team members to assist you,” the First Prime informed him as he regained his balance. “He should be here at any moment.”

Right on cue, another Jaffa entered the room from the opposite side, escorting a nervous looking middle-aged man. Daniel narrowed his eyes. This new “team member” of his looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place why…

As soon as the newcomers appeared, the First Prime turned to leave with Daniel’s two escort Jaffa. The door slid shut behind them. Daniel stood awkwardly, staring at the man, feeling the pieces in his brain lock into place as he figured out why he had seen him before.

“Brooks,” Daniel said slowly. “You’re Doctor Patrick Brooks.”

Brooks’s eyes briefly lit up. “You know who I am?”

“I studied your work in college,” Daniel told him. “You wrote several books on the writing of the ancient Egyptians. I used your work in my dissertation.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that someone here knows who I am.” Brooks gave a strange smile that looked more like a grimace. “And you are?”

“Daniel Jackson.” They shook hands. Daniel felt a little strange to be so casually introduced to one of his college idols under such extraordinary circumstances. “This is just a little odd, sir, because, well…” Daniel hesitated, unsure how best to say it, and finally deciding to be blunt, “I remember reading about your death. Freak boating accident, was it?”

“Oh, yes,” Brooks replied with a wince. “My boat overturned, I was tossed beneath the surface, drowned—a very unpleasant experience, I might add—and I awoke here. I presume something similar happened to you.”

Daniel nodded. “So how are we alive?”

“Let’s go.” Daniel jumped a little—he had forgotten about the Jaffa guard still in the room. “You can finish explaining on the way.” The guard motioned with a zat. Daniel didn’t need to be told twice.

“On the way where?” Daniel asked as he followed Brooks out of the room, very aware of the Jaffa close behind him.

“They want new recruits to start working right away,” Brooks explained.

“Recruit? Is that what I am? Half an hour ago I was dead.”

“So was everyone here. That woman with the odd voice, Hecate?” Brooks sighed. “Somehow she has the power to transport the dead here, to this planet, and bring them back to life. Now I know that sounds rather insane, resurrections and other planets and everything, but—”

“Believe it or not, I’ve heard weirder,” Daniel assured him. “So there are lots of people here, then? From lots of planets?”

Brooks stared at him in amazement. “You’re taking this well.”

“Trust me, I’m not. I’m just very used to this.” Brooks grunted in surprise but didn’t ask. Daniel repeated his question. “How many people?”

“Well, you’ll see, but somewhere in the area of three dozen. From about twelve different planets, I believe, but most of us are from Earth. Linguists and archaeologists, anyone who has a gift for ancient cultures and languages.”

“And what are we doing here?”

Daniel timed his final question perfectly as they arrived in a large chamber covered in more ancient writing. He recognized Egyptian, Greek, Sumerian, Goa’uld, and a few others, all strewn together with no noticeable pattern. It was a mess of inscriptions, and despite his dire circumstances, Daniel wanted little more than to sit down with a notebook and figure out as much of it as he possibly could.

Two women and a man sat on the ground doing just that—writing into notebooks. One of the women glanced up as Brooks and Daniel entered, but looked disinterested and returned to her work. Brooks motioned Daniel to a notebook lying open on the ground, evidently his, and both men sat down. The Jaffa hung back by the door, joining the other Jaffa already there, keeping a watchful eye over everyone.

“We’re translating,” Brooks told Daniel, handing him a notebook and a pen. “Every morning we wake up, are split into teams, and sent into various rooms of this temple to translate anything that we can. At the end of the day, Hecate and that servant of hers with the gold mark on his forehead read over our work. And most importantly of all, we are to immediately report any findings having to do with something called ‘The Feat of the Ancients.’”

“Ancients…” Daniel echoed. “Is this their Temple?”

Brooks gave him a look. “It seems you already understand what’s happening here better than I do, and I’ve been here for nearly ten years.”

Daniel gaped at the man in shock. “Ten…? How long has Hecate been at this?”

A zat blast on the ground by their feet made both men jump. One of the Jaffa guards glared at them as he lowered his weapon. “He has been told enough. Start working.”

Brooks quickly glanced at the wall and began writing down in his notebook, but turned to Daniel to quietly answer, “Some of us have been here for nearly thirty years.”

Daniel tried to comprehend that simple statement. Thirty years. Thirty years of doing nothing but translating under the watchful eyes of Hecate’s Jaffa, searching for the Feat of the Ancients, presumably a device or weapon of some sort. Some of the people imprisoned here had been at this since Daniel was a child. It baffled him.

Getting another look from the Jaffa guard convinced Daniel to focus his attention on the wall in front of him. He chose a section of Egyptian and began translating, but his brain was only half in the work. Mostly, he glanced around the room, plotting an escape. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how hopeless it was. He was on an alien planet, God only knows where, somewhere in the middle of a maze-like temple, guarded by a Goa’uld and her Jaffa.

SG-1. SG-1 would get him out. _They think you’re dead,_ the annoying voice in the back of Daniel’s head reminded him. _Remember what Hecate said? They all think you’re dead. They’re not coming for you._

 _Yes, they are._ Daniel forced that voice to shut up and replaced it with his own determined thoughts. _SG-1 will figure it out, and they will find me. SG-1 will find me. Jack will find me._ As Daniel continued to work, the back of his mind chanted a single mantra: _Jack will find me. Jack will find me. Jack will find me._

Several hours passed. Daniel found himself scooting along the ground to follow the trail of Egyptian as it wound around other languages. There truly seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the languages’ organization—it was as if the temple were deliberately designed to be confusing. _Well, if its purpose is to conceal this Feat of the Ancients, it makes sense that it be difficult to figure out unless you know exactly what to look for_ , Daniel mused. This section of Egyptian made no mention of the device, however; instead, it told the story of Ra and Apophis. Daniel of course knew the System Lords’ history like the back of his hand, but continued writing anyway.

When Daniel’s hand was beginning to cramp and his back was sore from hunching over a notebook for so long, the Jaffa spoke. “Cease.” Everyone else in the room immediately set their notebooks on the ground, stood, and backed away to the center of the room. At a glance from Brooks, Daniel followed suit. The Jaffa guard motioned with his hand, zat at the ready, and everyone filed from the room in a single line.

After a minute of walking in silence, the group arrived back at the room where Daniel had met Brooks; he realized that this must be the general living quarters for all of the prisoners. People now milled about, sitting on their palettes, leaning against the wall, talking quietly. The Jaffa waited until everyone was inside, then sealed the door shut, trapping them inside.

“Come on, Daniel, let’s find you a place to sleep,” Brooks said amiably.

Daniel just stared at him. “That’s it? Just…find me a place to sleep?”

Brooks blinked. “What else would I do?”

“I don’t know, maybe try to escape? Clearly there’s more of us than there are Jaffa.”

A few people nearby glanced at him in alarm. “Daniel, you don’t want to start saying things like that,” Brooks told him urgently. “The last person to attempt escape…we didn’t see her for three days. When she returned, she could barely speak. That was five years ago.”

“What happened to her?” Daniel asked.

“She died less than a year later. I’m sorry, Daniel, I know that this is less than ideal, for all of us, but this is your life now. We are not mistreated.”

“’Not mistreated’?” Daniel echoed. “How—how can you say that? Here you are, imprisoned by a Goa’uld, forced to work as slaves, and you’re ‘not mistreated’? How can you not even be willing to consider doing something about it?”

 _“Daniel,”_ Brooks warned, “Hecate has ears everywhere. If you keep talking like this…”

Taking his meaning, Daniel fell petulantly silent and focused instead on studying his surroundings. The only entrances to this room were the two doors that could only be unlocked by a Jaffa. There were no windows or openings anywhere, and it occurred to Daniel that some of the people here might not have seen the sky in decades. He had to blink for a moment to hold back his impending panic. _Jack will find me. I am going to see the sky again._

Daniel’s gaze was traveling the walls searching for anything that might help him when he saw them. His brain short-circuited. They were older. They had wrinkles and worry lines that Daniel had never seen before, and their hair was beginning to show signs of turning gray, but there was absolutely no doubt that it was them.

Brooks was speaking to him. That fact registered dimly in Daniel’s mind, but was dismissed in favor of the repeating thought: _Oh my God oh my God oh my God._ Daniel’s feet moved of their own accord, bringing him ever closer to the couple leaning against the wall near the corner. Twenty feet away. His arm was around her shoulder. Ten feet away. They were talking, unaware of the man approaching them. Five feet…

Daniel came to a stop. As the woman registered his presence and turned to look at him, Daniel opened his mouth and let himself say the two words he never thought he would have reason to say again.

“Mom? Dad?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining members of SG-1 investigate the cause of Daniel's death.

Jack was staring at the bookshelf in Daniel’s office when Carter found him.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, or how he’d even gotten there, but his feet had carried him into the empty room and then abandoned him. He knew he should probably leave, go find something productive to do, but he couldn’t move. What was the last book Daniel had used? What was the last thing he had translated? Had he known that it would be his last work?

“Sir.” Jack jumped a little when Carter spoke, and she flinched slightly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Jack said quickly. Everyone was on edge these days. “What is it?”

“SG-3 reported back early. Hammond wants us to join them back on P47.”

Jack blinked. “Why?”

“Not sure. You coming?”

“Yeah,” Jack said. Carter nodded and turned to leave, but when Jack didn’t follow her, returned to grab him by the hand and lead him away. She didn’t often touch him like that, but circumstances permitted it for once. Jack let himself be led down the corridor until he reached the locker room. He entered alone and changed into his off-world gear on mental autopilot.

A few minutes later, Jack found himself in the Gate Room with Carter and Teal’c on either side of him, listening to Walter list off the chevrons. The Gate kawooshed, Teal’c gave his arm a gentle push to get him to take the lead, and the three stepped through.

“Report, Major,” Jack said once the swirling vortex deposited them on P47-221 directly in front of Major Wade and SG-3.

Wade looked solemn. “You’re gonna want to see this for yourself, sir,” he said ruefully, before turning to lead SG-1 back to the room featured in all of Jack’s more recent nightmares.

Most of the rubble was cleared away, but the tiny chamber that had caused Daniel’s demise still existed, and that was enough for Jack. He clenched his jaw, starting to tremble as he recalled hearing Daniel cry out his name just before…

Carter stepped closer to Jack and let her shoulder brush against his, a tiny comfort for both of them. Jack tried to snap himself out of his reverie and focus on the wires Wade held out to him.

“What’s this?” Jack asked, taking them and turning them over in his fist.

“We found these in the rubble when we cleared it out,” Wade explained. “There are a few more. And this.” He held out a device that Jack would recognize anywhere. It was scorched and cracked, but it was definitely some kind of detonator.

Carter gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. Teal’c raised an eyebrow. Jack took a massive, shuddering breath as he took the detonator from Wade. His hand shook, and he had to force himself to breathe properly so that he could get his next sentence out.

“Major…are you telling me…that someone…made that room collapse…intentionally?”

Wade almost looked scared. “I believe so, sir.”

Jack nearly stumbled backwards, feeling Teal’c’s arm come up to the small of his back to prevent him from doing just that. His fist closed around the used detonator as his vision began to go red. “It wasn’t an accident…” Jack breathed. “Someone…someone... _murdered_ Daniel.”

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said quietly, then more loudly upon receiving no response, “O’Neill!”

Jack’s head snapped up to look Teal’c in the eye. “Someone did this on purpose. And we’re going to find out who.”

“Indeed, O’Neill, but you must open your hand.”

“Wha…?” Jack glanced down to his hand. He was gripping the device so tightly that blood was starting to drip between his fingers. He hadn’t felt it happen.

Teal’c reached down and gently opened Jack’s first, removing the device from his fingers. “It appears to be some sort of remote detonation device,” he stated, studying it. “However, I am unfamiliar with this design.”

“I’ll have the SGC send me some of my equipment and take a few readings,” Carter said.

“Do you think you can trace a signal to somewhere?” Jack asked quietly, staring at his bleeding hand.

“I don’t know,” Carter replied. “But it’s worth a shot.”

“Go,” Jack ordered, though his soft tone sounded more like a plea. Carter immediately turned and sprinted towards the Gate—Jack suspected that her composure was an act and she was just as close to completely losing it as he was.

Teal’c, meanwhile, stepped closer to the pile of rubble, taking in every detail. “Have you found anything else of importance, Major Wade?”

“Just more wires and bits of whatever that is,” Wade said, gesturing at the detonator in Teal’c’s hand. “We’re still clearing this mess out, though.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c said quietly. “Could I request that O’Neill and I be given the room?”

Wade nodded and gestured to the rest of SG-3 to follow him out, leaving Teal’c and Jack alone. Teal’c immediately returned to Jack and put both hands on his shoulders. “O’Neill,” he intoned.

“What?” Jack responded, still in a daze, staring at his hand.

“I am aware of the difficulties of losing such a close friend as Daniel Jackson, and I, too, feel the same pain at his death.” Jack couldn’t help flinching a little bit at the word _death_ ; Teal’c tightened his grip on Jack’s shoulders before continuing. “However, you must put your grieving aside until such as time as it can be afforded.”

Jack said nothing, but his mind protested Teal’c’s word. _Such as time as it can be afforded?_ As though there was a correct time to say goodbye to the most important person in the universe?

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said again, and something in his tone made Jack snap his head up to look the Jaffa in the eyes. “We _shall_ avenge Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c vowed, “but we shall need your help to do so. You must put aside your grief and focus on this moment. None of us can move on until this deed is accomplished, and you must have all of your wits about you to aid us.”

Teal’c’s words washed over Jack. Somewhere in the back of his mind, they made sense, and Jack felt himself nodding. “Alright,” he said. “Alright. Let me see that thing again.”

Releasing Jack’s shoulders, Teal’c handed him the detonator. Jack turned it over in his hands, searching for any details that might have evaded notice before, and heard Carter re-enter the room behind him. Turning, he was surprised to see her without any of the equipment.

“Where’s your stuff?” Jack asked, a frantic tone entering his voice.

“Doctor Lee should be arriving with it momentarily,” Carter assured him. “Hammond wants a full team on this. He wants to figure out exactly what happened just as badly as we do.” She was rummaging around in her pack as she spoke, and withdrew a first aid kit. “Let me see your hand,” she said as she stepped closer to Jack.

“Huh?”

“Your hand, sir. You cut it on the detonator.”

“Oh. Right.” Jack extended his hand, finally aware of a twinge of pain as he did so. Taking his wrist, Carter began to clean the wound, and wrapped it in a small bandage. It was overkill for such a minor injury, but Carter seemed to feel a little better having something to do, and Jack didn’t mind.

By the time Carter finished, Doctor Lee had arrived with a small flock of geeks behind him. Giving Jack’s wrist a little squeeze, Carter went over to join him, taking the detonator with her. Jack was suddenly reminded of how absolutely useless he was.

“Anything I can do?” he called over to the scientists.

“Not really, sir,” Carter told him.

“Right,” Jack muttered. With a sigh, he made his way over to the far wall and sank to the floor. Teal’c joined him, and the two friends sat in tense but companionable silence, watching Carter and Lee set up their equipment and start to work.

The inaction made Jack’s fury truly begin to seethe inside him. Someone had rigged up that room to collapse. Someone had waited for Daniel to set foot inside, and then crushed the life out of him. Who would want to kill Daniel so badly? _Half the Goa’uld in this galaxy,_ Jack’s inner voice reminded him, but Jack barked at it to shut up. No reasoning could ever satisfy him. Somewhere in the universe, there was a bastard celebrating the fact that they had finished off Daniel Jackson, and every cell in Jack’s body itched to find them and kill them. Slowly. Painfully.

Teal’c seemed aware of the general direction of Jack’s thoughts, and shifted almost imperceptibly closer to let their shoulders brush together. Jack gave a small grunt of acknowledgement, drew his knees up to his chest, rested his arms and head on them, and settled in for the long wait.

* * *

 

“Carter, please tell me you have something.”

Jack had been sitting in the same position against the wall for over an hour. His back and neck ached, but not nearly as much as the pang in his chest that had afflicted him since Daniel’s death.

“Possibly, sir,” was Carter’s response.

With a slight groan, Jack pushed himself up off the ground and walked over, trying to subtly stretch his legs as he went. Teal’c followed. Carter held up something that two weeks ago Jack would have jokingly referred to as a tricorder. “I don’t think this is just a detonator. There’s an energy pattern coming from it that blankets that entire room. It’s very faint, it took us half an hour just to notice it, but it’s definitely there.”

“What kind of energy?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Carter paused, clearly hesitant to say her next statement, but continued regardless. “The most similar pattern that I’ve seen is the Asgard’s beaming technology.”

Jack drew in a small, sharp breath. “Beaming technology? That annoying transportation thing that they do?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack’s mind raced. “So there’s a chance that—”

“No, sir,” Carter cut off his train of thought before it could even finish forming. “We…” she hesitated before reminding him, “We found his body…remember?”

 _How could I forget?_ Jack nodded, but his brain still fought for an answer as the faintest stirrings of hope began to form in his chest. “But we’ve seen doubles before,” Jack said, half to himself. “Robots, clones, you name it.”

“Yes, sir, but—”

“It could have been something else, right?”

“I don’t know, sir—”

“It might not have been Daniel, right!?”

_“I don’t know, sir!”_

Jack balked a little at Carter’s sudden outburst. Carter looked down and blinked a few times before continuing in a shaky but more reasonable tone for addressing her commanding officer. “I don’t know. Janet didn’t report anything unusual in her autopsy. We’re going to ask her to check again.”

Embarrassed at their little spat, Jack just nodded. “Sorry,” he said quietly.

“It’s okay,” Carter responded, in the same soft voice.

Neither of them knew what to say next, so Teal’c cut in. “Can this signal be traced to any location?”

“That’s what we’re working on now,” Carter told him, and Lee arrived right on schedule.

“It’s a no go,” Lee informed everyone. “It’s just too weak for this equipment to pick up beyond the next few rooms. We need something a lot stronger.”

“Could the Tok’ra be of assistance?” Teal’c asked.

Carter’s face started to light up. “Possibly,” she murmured. “The sensors on their ships can be easily reconfigured to be nearly three times more powerful than anything we have here.”

Jack nodded. “Teal’c and I will head back to base, have Hammond contact the Tok’ra,” Jack decided out loud. “And I’ll tell Janet to…” The thought of what Janet would actually have to do—unearth Daniel’s body, re-examine it, run even more thorough tests on his cold and decaying corpse—made him snap his jaw shut.

Thankfully, Carter understood. “I’ll stay here for a bit longer, make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

Another nod, then Jack and Teal’c turned to head back to the Stargate. That faintest seed of hope was now beginning to blossom in Jack’s chest, and though he knew that he should keep it in check until they had more facts, he also knew that if anyone could survive the impossible, it was Daniel Jackson.

* * *

 

“O’Neill.”

“Huh? Wha—?” Jack jerked awake, blinking in alarm for a few seconds as he tried to remember where he was. Right. Guest quarters on base. Teal’c had practically dragged him there after their report to Hammond and forced him to take a much needed nap.

Now, Teal’c sat on the edge of Jack’s bed, his mouth set at a more pronounced downward angle than usual. “What’s happening?” Jack grumbled, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.

“General Hammond has contacted the Tok’ra. Jacob Carter has promised to arrive to assist us within forty-eight hours.”

Jack ran a hand through his hair, still confused. “That’s a good thing, T. What gives?”

Teal’c remained silent for a moment, then began speaking carefully, like someone doing their best to avoid upsetting a small child. “Doctor Frasier ordered Daniel Jackson’s body to be exhumed so that she might run tests, as was requested.”

“Did she find something?” Jack asked him. “Is it…is it really him?”

Another moment of silence. Then Teal’c finally stated what had him so upset. “Daniel Jackson’s body is missing. There is no evidence of disruption around the gravesite, and no indication of how it was removed. He is simply not there.”

It felt like Jack’s insides were coming out. _Daniel is missing?_ “What…?” he echoed lamely.

“General Hammond is conducting a full investigation with the local authorities, but for now, no one can ascertain what has happened.”

So. First someone wanted Daniel dead, and now someone wanted his body. Most likely the same person, but there was no way to tell. That blossom of hope that Daniel had somehow survived had no idea whether to keep growing or to shrivel and die, and that uncertainty left Jack physically trembling. He grabbed onto the headboard of the bed in an attempt to control himself before Teal’c noticed.

Teal’c noticed. “What do you require, O’Neill?” he asked gently.

Jack looked Teal’c right in the eye as he savagely answered, “I require whoever did this to die in a fucking hole. That’s what I require.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed darkly. They fell silent for several long minutes, listening to the air conditioning unit kick in.

“When is the last time you have eaten?”

Jack thought for a minute. “Uh…that Thai food Carter found in my fridge.”

“You require sustenance. Come.” Teal’c stood, waiting for Jack to follow. Jack couldn’t remember any team of his giving him so many orders, but he couldn’t bring himself to contradict them. Miserably, he followed Teal’c down to the Commissary and started shoveling food into his mouth, more to stop people from telling him to eat than anything else.

As he forced down some sort of meatloaf concoction, Jack found himself whispering fervently in his mind, almost a prayer, an earnest vow that would become his driving. _Daniel, if you’re out there somehow, I’m gonna find you and bring you home. And if you’re not…if you’re not I’m gonna find whoever killed you and make that son of a bitch pay._ _God, I miss you, Danny…I love you so much. I miss you so much._

Eventually that prayer died down to a single promise:

_If you’re out there, I will find you. If you’re out there, I will find you._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel has a long conversation with his parents.

It was as if all of the air had left the room. Daniel forgot how to breathe, how to move, how to do anything besides just stare at his parents. _God. His parents._ Claire and Melburn Jackson. The two people he had missed most in all the universe. The two people he had known, beyond of a shadow of doubt, that he would never, ever, see again. The two people who were standing right in front of him.

Claire slowly pushed herself off from the wall, away from her husband’s arm, and took three cautious steps towards Daniel. She came to a stop only a few inches away from him, her eyes narrowed through her glasses, considering. Tentative fingers reached out to brush against Daniel’s cheek, and the faint glimmer of recognition in her eyes solidified as she gazed into her son’s face.

“Danny…?” she whispered.

The sound of his old nickname wrung a lone sob from Daniel, and he reached up to grip the hand on his face. Before he could register what had happened, Daniel found himself gathered into his mother’s arms for the first time in over twenty years. His knees buckled a little bit, but that worked in Claire’s favor, as her son had shot past her in height. He sank into the embrace, choking out through his unrelenting sobs, “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

A hand rested on Daniel’s shoulder. He lifted his head to see his father watching him intently.

“Dad…?” Daniel managed to gasp out.

And suddenly Melburn had Daniel in his arms as well, completely wrapped around both his wife and his son. “Oh my God, Danny,” he breathed. “Oh my God.”

Daniel couldn’t produce words, only surprised sobs and choked gasping noises. Claire took a step back, holding Daniel at arm’s length, looking him up and down. “Look at you…” she breathed out through her own tears. “You’re so handsome.”

A strange hiccup-like sound erupted from Daniel as he grinned, and Claire returned to the embrace. His parents were holding him so tightly that Daniel almost couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t mind. He never wanted them to let go. As they clung to one another, it suddenly occurred to Daniel how much he had to tell them. About his life. His work. The Stargate program. His friends. Sha’re. Jack.

“I—I—” Daniel tried to start, but his chest was heaving too much for rational speech.

“Shh, shh,” Melburn said quietly. “It’s alright.”

Somehow, the three Jacksons ended up sinking to the floor, still embracing each other. Daniel found his face buried into his mother’s shoulder, one of her hands tangled in his hair while his father’s hand ran up and down his back. Daniel began focusing on his breathing, trying to calm his sobs in order to attempt speaking. It took a while—his heart was pounding in his throat and it felt like his chest was about to explode—but after several long, long minutes, he finally managed to reach a relative state of calm.

He opened his mouth, and then realized that he had no idea how to start. What were you supposed to say to the people you’d thought were dead for nearly three decades?

Thankfully, Melburn spoke for him. “We didn’t think we’d ever see you again,” he whispered, his voice trembling with emotion.

“I know,” Daniel answered quietly. “I…you…you died…” And then knowledge truly hit home: _his parents were alive._ They were right here, holding him. However much might want to, Daniel would never forget that day in the museum, seeing the stone crush his parents, feeling strangers’ hands hold him back as he screamed and fought to reach them, hearing a sad, gentle voice tell him that they were dead…but they had survived. They had survived, because the universe is just that complicated. They had survived here, on this alien planet, because Hecate needed them for her own purposes.

Hecate. Twenty minutes ago, Daniel had felt nothing but a nervous trepidation when he thought of her, perhaps a mild distaste. Now, a cold rage burned when he considered the Goa’uld who had taken his parents away from him for so long.

Daniel grabbed onto Claire and Melburn even more tightly, refusing to let go; his parents simply wrapped around him in return. “We know, Danny,” Claire told Daniel softly. “We know.”

“You’ve been here this whole time?” Daniel whispered. He felt Claire nod against the side of his head while Melburn just sighed.

“All this time, all these years…” Melburn began softly, “The one thing we wanted more than anything was to see you again. But…not here. God, anywhere but here. I’m so sorry, Danny. I’m so sorry.”

Melburn kept repeating the apology. “It’s okay,” Daniel said, though it really wasn’t. “It’s okay, Dad.”

They fell silent again, and once more, Daniel felt the need to speak, but had no idea what to say. He ended up going with, “This temple is very impressive. I mean, all those languages…”

Claire and Melburn both groaned a little bit, and Daniel winced. “Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly. “I guess if you’ve been here as long as you have, working on translating it for so long, you wouldn’t want to talk about it, it’s probably not that impressive after too many years…” He kept talking, dimly aware that he was babbling.

Claire squeezed his shoulder. “It’s alright, Danny,” she consoled him. “We said the same when we first arrived. This place _is_ pretty amazing. Just not when it’s the only thing you see for over twenty years.”

“We’re not on Earth,” Melburn told him, and Daniel recognized the tone. It was the hushed, excited voice he used when he was showing his son some discovery he’d made, and even as a child, Daniel had loved the thrill of a new find, the exhilaration that filled his family at the thought of unearthing things that had been buried for years untold. “We’re on another planet, Danny. Can you believe it?”

Clearly Melburn was expecting an awestruck reaction, which Daniel did not provide. Right. He had some explaining to do. “Actually, I can,” Daniel said quietly. “Believe it or not, I, uh, I go to other planets fairly often. For a living, actually.”

That certainly got their attention. Claire and Melburn both leaned back to look their son in the eyes. Upon seeing that he wasn’t joking, Claire repeated quietly, “You go to other planets for a living?”

Daniel smiled. He was so used to his job that sometimes he forgot how incredible it truly was. “Yeah,” he confirmed, considering how best to explain. Technically, telling his parents about the Stargate program was a violation of his confidentiality agreement, but he decided that he didn’t give a shit. “Uh…you’ve probably translated a fair amount of this temple—have either of you ever come across the mention of something called a ‘Stargate’?” Blank stares. “Okay…how about ‘doorway to heaven’?”

That got a nod from both of them. “We were never certain what that referred to,” Melburn said. “There was a drawing next to one mention, some sort of ring with symbols around the edge?”

“Yes, that’s what we call the Stargate.” Daniel explained. “There’s a vast network of those rings all across the galaxy, along with a device we call a DHD. Using the DHD, you can dial seven of the symbols, and a wormhole is created. You step through the wormhole and come out through another Gate on another planet.”

“And that’s what you do?” Claire asked. “You go through this…Stargate?”

Daniel launched into a hasty summary of the Stargate program. “Yes, Earth’s Stargate was discovered in Giza in 1928. I was contacted in 1996 to see if I could translate any of the symbols. And, uh, well…” Daniel hesitated, torn between explaining every last detail and not wanting to bore his parents. “I figured out what the symbols meant, and got the Gate to work for us.”

“They asked you for help?” Claire interrupted. “I mean, I assumed that you followed in the family tradition because, well, you were brought here, but to be specifically contacted for something that monumental…” Claire beamed with pride at her son. “You must be an incredible archaeologist.”

“Uh…actually I was laughed out of the archaeological community because I thought that the pyramids were landing sites for alien spacecraft. That’s why they contacted me.”

Melburn cast him a slightly appalled look. “You what?”

“I was right, by the way!” Daniel pointed out indignantly. “Goa’uld motherships are shaped like pyramids.”

“Goa’uld?” Melburn asked, his mouth struggling with the shape of the strange word.

“First alien race we encountered,” Daniel explained. “Snake-like parasites that take over a human host. Hecate is a Goa’uld. I think that’s why she took me,” he added. “I’ve seen more alien languages than anyone else on Earth.”

“That’s what you do?” Claire asked him. “You join digs on other planets?” She had a slightly disbelieving tone, but was staring at Daniel with wonder in her eyes.

“Sort of. There’s a special branch of the Air Force devoted to the Stargate.” Daniel’s words started to stumble over themselves as his excitement took over. “I’m part of a team that goes through the Stargate to explore other planets, meet alien races, and procure advanced technology. We’re called SG-1. We do a little bit of everything—we explore, save planets, fight the Goa’uld, protect Earth…”

He trailed off, finally aware that he was rambling, but his parents were staring at him in rapt fascination. “So while we were…away,” Claire said carefully, “you joined the Air Force and started saving the world from aliens?”

“Well, I’m just a civilian, and mostly I get shot at and translate things, but…yes.”

“Wow,” Claire breathed. “And here we were worried that Nick would be a bad influence on you.”

Daniel blinked a few times. “Nick?”

“Nick did raise you…?” Seeing Daniel’s blank face, Claire turned to Melburn. “That was in our will!”

“Nick didn’t…I didn’t see him much after…” Claire and Melburn looked furious, and Daniel couldn’t help but cringe a little bit. “I went to foster care.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Claire practically hissed. “If I ever see my father again, I am going to kill him. God, Danny, that was the only thing that made this a little bit more bearable, knowing that someone was taking care of you…”

“Claire,” Melburn said in warning, seeing Daniel start to curl in on himself. “He’s okay.” He leaned in closer to his son, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Danny? Are you okay?”

“I—yeah,” Daniel answered softly. “I’m okay, Dad.” He didn’t think he would ever get used to saying _Mom_ or _Dad_ casually in a sentence, but he was willing to try.

Melburn wrapped his arms around Daniel, pulling him in for another hug. Daniel clung gratefully to the back of his father’s shirt. Somehow he felt as though he had let his parents down by growing up without any family, but he also knew that it was Nick’s fault for being a selfish bastard and not lifting a finger to help raise his only grandson.

Daniel raised his head as Claire rose to her feet. With a small smile, she bent down and began dragging one of the sleeping palettes across the floor. As Melburn turned his head to watch as well, Daniel realized that two of the palettes were already side by side—his parents’ makeshift bed. Without a word, Claire added another to the mix. “Come on,” she beckoned, sinking down onto the farthest one.

Melburn barely disentangled himself from Daniel as he rose, pulling his son up with him, then back down again onto their new sleeping arrangement. Daniel lay back, staring up at the temple ceiling, his parents resting on either side of him.

Claire rolled onto her side to look at her son. “I want to know everything,” she said simply. “Absolutely everything.”

“That’s going to take a while,” Daniel answered quietly.

“I don’t care,” Claire said immediately. “Tell me everything.”

Melburn had rolled a little closer as well, listening intently. So Daniel started talking. He told them about joining a foster family, with the half-hearted parents and the miserable foster brother. He told them about deciding to study archaeology and starting college, meeting and eventually being dumped by Sarah Gardner. He told them about meeting Catherine Langford and being recruited into the Stargate program. He told them about meeting Jack, and his first trip through the Gate to Abydos. He stumbled over his words a little bit, but he told them about Sha’re…

“You’re married?” Claire asked, her eyes shining.

“I was. She, uh…she died. About a year ago.” Daniel blinked at the sudden tears in his eyes.

“Oh, Danny, I’m so sorry,” Claire whispered, grabbing Daniel’s hand. “She sounded lovely.”

“She was,” Daniel agreed. “I got a year with her. It was…it was wonderful.”

“Only a year?” Melburn asked. “Sorry, it’s just—the dates you’ve told don’t add up…”

Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but only a yawn came out. “This can wait until tomorrow,” Melburn added quickly. “I think it’s past your bedtime.”

“I haven’t had a bedtime since I was eight, Dad,” Daniel muttered. “But I am pretty tired.”

Claire leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Go to sleep, Danny,” she told him gently, before adding ruefully, “You have a long day of translating ahead of you tomorrow.”

“Fun,” Daniel said with another yawn. “Do the Jaffa care if you swap teams?”

“The what?”

“Jaffa. The guys with the crests on their foreheads. And the guns.”

Melburn blinked. “I don’t know. Why?”

“I think I’d like to work with you,” Daniel whispered. “If that’s okay.”

Melburn gave Daniel’s hair a quick ruffle. “Of course that’s okay. I’d like that, too.” Then he yawned as well.

“I think we all need to sleep,” Claire said, softly but firmly. Melburn made a noise, slightly of protest and slightly of agreement. Daniel just closed his eyes, letting his roller coaster of emotions from that day simply run him over.

Beside him, Claire rolled up close for a moment to give him another kiss on the forehead. “We missed you,” she whispered softly.

“I missed you, too,” Daniel whispered back. “So much.” His tears were starting up again and he made no effort to control them.

“We’re here now,” Claire said quietly. “And despite the circumstances, we can be a family again.”

“My friends are going to find us,” Daniel stated, opening his eyes. “They’re looking for me right now, and when they find me, we’re all going to go home to Earth, and you can yell at Nick just like you want to.”

“I’d like to see his face,” Claire said with a smile. “But we can be a family wherever we are. Good night, Danny. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Daniel echoed faintly. Claire and Melburn exchanged a glance, then each wrapped an arm around Daniel, snuggling up close to their son.

Daniel drew in a sudden breath as memories came flooding back him—traveling around the world as a young boy to Egypt, Israel, Greece, sleeping in tents or hotel rooms, always with his parents, always completely safe sleeping between them with their arms around him, just like now. He shifted a little, burrowing into the embrace, not daring to open his eyes in case this all turned out to be some sort of cosmic joke. But as he drifted off to sleep, despite the horror of his situation, he felt a peace that had eluded him for twenty-seven years.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacob arrives to assist SG-1's investigation.

“Colonel.”

Jack looked up at the sound of someone speaking to him, startled out of the sorrowful daze he often found himself in these days. Where was he? Oh yeah—Daniel’s office. Again. He didn’t remember how he got there. Again.

General Hammond stood in the doorway. “Jacob’s just arrived on P47-221,” he said. “I assumed you’d want to join them.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Jack rose stiffly, stretching his legs for a moment before pushing past Hammond to the corridor, his brain still not fully in the present.

“Jack?” Hammond said suddenly, and Jack glanced back. For a moment, Hammond looked as if he didn’t know what to say; then, he steeled his gaze. “If someone truly did murder Doctor Jackson, we’re going to find them. No matter what it takes. You have my word.”

The sincerity in his voice bolstered Jack, and he stood a little straighter. “Yes, sir,” he agreed quietly, before setting out for the locker room to gear up.

* * *

 

Teal’c was waiting on the other side of the Gate when Jack arrived. “O’Neill,” he greeted. “Major Carter and Selmak are waiting for us in the tel’tak.”

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Jack muttered, letting Teal’c take the lead and following him out of the main temple entrance to where Jacob’s tel’tak had landed.

Both men hesitated a little as they entered, seeing Carter wrapped in her father’s arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” Jacob was murmuring, running a hand up and down Carter’s back. Jack was about to back out of the tel’tak when Carter noticed them and hastily pulled away , wiping tears from her face.

“Jack,” Jacob greeted shortly. “You want my help finding this son of a bitch?”

“Yes, sir,” Jack replied earnestly.

“I’ve set the tel’tak’s sensors to run scans for this reading that Sam detected. It’s compiling data now, but we should have something pretty soon.”

“Any idea what it is?” Jack asked as the team began to follow Jacob out of the temple.

Jacob dropped his head, signifying that Selmak was taking over. “I have never seen anything quite like it,” the symbiote answered in his unnervingly deep voice, “but Major Carter is correct that it bears some resemblance to what little we know of the Asgard’s transportation technology. However, it is dissimilar enough that it is difficult to ascertain its purpose.”

“But can we trace it?”

At those words, a light on the main console flashed and something began to beep urgently. “Let’s find out,” Jacob answered in his normal voice, strolling over to where Carter was already examining the readout.

Carter took a step back. “It worked,” she said softly. “Whatever signal this is…we can trace it, sir.”

Jack’s heart started to pound a little bit faster. This was actually happening. They were actually going to find…something. The path was now clear—what was unclear was what they would find at the end of it. It could be Daniel’s killer. Or it could be Daniel. And the only way to know for certain was to follow.

“Do you have the source?” Jack asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Jacob answered. “The tel’tak’s sensor range just isn’t powerful enough for that. We can trace its direction out to the edge of the solar system, but not much farther.”

Jack sighed. “So we don’t actually have anything.”

“I didn’t say that,” Jacob replied. “There’s enough that we can follow it.”

“General Hammond will never okay the mission just based on this…” Carter said doubtfully.

“Oh, I think he will,” Jack told her, recalling Hammond’s words in the corridor outside Daniel’s office. “He’s just as pissed as we are.”

“Can you determine how long such a journey will take?” Teal’c asked.

Jacob shook his head. “No. We simply can’t see it that far ahead.”

Jack sighed. “I’ll head back to the Gate, run this by Hammond. If he okays it, we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

“Actually, Jack,” Jacob said as Jack turned to leave, “the sooner we leave, the better. The signal’s already beginning to deteriorate. If we wait too long, it might become too weak to follow.”

“Got it,” Jack replied, though his heart raced at the thought of losing their only chance to solve this. He dimly heard Teal’c say that he would accompany Jack back to the Gate, but he was already halfway back to the temple entrance. Teal’c simply sprinted after him.

As Jack pounded Earth’s address into the DHD, an odd sort of relief filled him. The endless days of inaction were over—he could finally _do_ something besides fester in a pool of his own fried emotions. _I’m coming, Danny_ , he thought as he stepped through the wormhole. _I’m coming to find you, or kill whoever killed you. I’m coming._

* * *

 

The speed at which Hammond rustled up two weeks’ worth of supplies was almost terrifying. Less than two hours after his report to the general, Jack stood back in the Gate Room, Teal’c by his side, Siler wheeling over a cart of food.

“You have a go,” Hammond had told him. “But only for two weeks. If you haven’t found anything by then, you are to report back to Earth immediately. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Hammond had glanced at the open door, then added in a quieter voice, “Trust me, Jack, I would love to give you carte blanche to scour the universe and find whoever did this, and I know that that’s what you want to do. But I can’t authorize that. The NID doesn’t want you to go at all, but I told them that we all owe Doctor Jackson too much not to attempt this.”

“I understand, sir,” Jack had replied. And he did. As much as Hammond could sympathize, he was the leader. He had a base to run, and sending his top team off with no indication of when they would return simply couldn’t happen.

“Are you alright, O’Neill?” Teal’c asked as Walter dialed the Gate.

“Sure,” Jack replied, actually meaning it this time. “Just glad to be finally be doing something.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed. “I, too, am ready to take action against the individual responsible for Daniel Jackson’s demise.”

Jack still flinched a little at the word _demise_ , but at least this time he had a comeback. “There’s a chance, T. There’s a chance that he’s still okay.”

“O’Neill—” Teal’c began, but Jack didn’t let him finish.

“He’s not in his grave and there’s a chance he was beamed away before the ceiling fell. There’s a chance.”

Teal’c stepped closer and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “O’Neill,” he insisted, “you must believe that I, too, wish nothing more than for Daniel Jackson to be alive and well. However, false hope can cause both of us much more harm.”

“There’s a chance,” Jack repeated stubbornly.

“There is,” Teal’c conceded. “However, we must all be prepared in case the worst has truly come.”

“He’s out there!” Jack burst out. Uncomfortably aware that heads had turned towards him, he dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. “I _have_ to believe that, Teal’c. I _have_ to.” His voice broke a little.

Teal’c tightened his grip on Jack’s shoulder, and there was a gentleness in his eyes that Jack had never seen before. “As must I,” Teal’c said in an undertone, and Jack blinked at the unexpectedly honest reply. “But we must also be prepared for the worst. False hope may cause us more harm than good.”

Jack dropped his head and nodded, more to get Teal’c to stop talking than anything else. If one more person told him to just lie back and accept Daniel’s death, he was going to scream. Whether or not he was alive, Jack was going to do something about it, and he couldn’t do that here, wallowing in grief at the SGC.

As soon as Teal’c released him, Jack turned and began wheeling the cart of supplies up the ramp and through the wormhole, ready to leave immediately to follow the path before him. He hoped to every god he could think of that it led to Daniel, but in his heart, he truly didn’t know.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel goes to work alongside his parents for the first time.

“Danny. Wake up.”

Daniel grumbled his way into consciousness as his father shook him. Right. _His father._ His very much alive father. “It’s time to get up, Danny,” Melburn kept saying.

Catching a glimpse of a stern-looking Jaffa by the now open doorway, Daniel sat up, taking the offered hand and letting Melburn pull him up to his feet. He anxiously smoothed down his hair, straightened his glasses on his nose, and located his mother a few feet away. Seeing her son awake, Claire walked over and ran a hand up and down his back.

“I asked someone in our team to switch with you,” Melburn informed him quietly. “The Jaffa most likely won’t notice, or won’t care. Just stick with us. Okay.”

“Okay,” Daniel mumbled, still barely awake. Several of the Jaffa were making their way around the edge of the room to circle behind their captives, the last of whom were climbing to their feet and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The entire group began shuffling forward as one—clearly, being woken up by an armed guard was their normal morning routine. Daniel hoped he wasn’t here long enough to get used to it.

Sandwiched between his parents, Daniel followed Melburn as they branched off into a passageway, making their way through a series of rooms in quick succession. Daniel did his best to memorize the path, but after five minutes, he was completely lost. Eventually, they arrived at a long, narrow hallway line with writing. Two women squeezed past the Jacksons, following a Jaffa down to the far end. The other Jaffa remained by the nearer side with another man and woman.

Melburn took three notebooks from the nearer of the two guards and led his family to the exact center of the corridor, where they all sat on the dusty floor. He planned it well; they were just barely out in view of both of Jaffa. They couldn’t escape without passing one of them, but as long as they actually worked, and spoke in undertones, they could have a conversation undisturbed.

“More Greek for me,” Claire muttered, flipping open the notebook.

“I think I’ll tackle the Sumerian,” Melburn decided. “How about you, Danny?”

“Uh…” Daniel scanned the walls for a moment. “I guess that Asgard section.”

Claire and Melburn both blinked. “The what?”

“The Asgard. They’re, um, an alien race we’ve encountered. Small, gray…actually, just picture the most stereotypical alien face you can think of, and you’re probably close to what Thor looks like.”

“Thor?” Claire asked. “As in…the Norse god? Thor?”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “Yeah. That Thor.”

“Wow,” Claire said, staring at her son proudly for a moment before returning her attention to the wall in front of her. Half of her attention, at least. “You didn’t finish telling us about yourself last night,” she murmured, scribbling something down.

Daniel followed her lead, turning to face the Asgard section and beginning to write. “There wasn’t much else to tell,” he said.

“You’d just gotten married. I know there’s more to that story,” Claire protested, and Melburn hummed in agreement.

So, Daniel started talking again. It was a little difficult telling his life story while writing something completely separate, and he may have scribbled down the wrong words a few times, but given the choice between translating for his Goa’uld captor and talking with his parents for only the second time in nearly three decades, his parents would win every time.

He picked up where he had left off the night before, telling them about staying on Abydos to be with Sha’re, but only living there a year before his wife was taken from him. He told them about meeting Sam and Teal’c and forming SG-1. He gave the highlights of his missions, only including the craziest or most interesting planets. Eventually, he reached Sha’re’s death, and struggled to say the words, but the gentle hands that kept briefly grabbing onto his encourage him to continue, and he managed to get through it without crying.

As he finished, one of their teammates approached with something that looked suspiciously like the Goa’uld version of a power bar. Each of the Jacksons took one, passing the final two on to their teammates farther down the hallway, and began eating their lunch. Daniel had hoped it would taste better than it looked, but he had no such luck. Clearly, this meal was designed to carry nutritional value and little else—it had practically no taste at all.

They resumed translating once their meal was done. “Enough about me,” Daniel said quietly, finding his place on the wall again. “I want to know about you.”

Melburn sighed. “There isn’t much to tell. We’ve been here. Doing this. For…how long did you say it was? Twenty-seven years?”

“Yeah,” Daniel whispered. “God. I can’t imagine…”

“It’s alright, Danny,” Claire soothed, even though it really wasn’t. “Besides,” she added, “you’re not done yet.”

“I’ve told you my entire life story, Mom,” Daniel replied, slightly confused. “I don’t have anything else to tell…”

Claire grinned, a mischievous little grin that Daniel suddenly realized that he had inherited from her. “Now I don’t think that’s true,” she said, turning to look her son directly in the eye. “Tell me about Jack.”

His mother’s request had come completely out of left field; Daniel almost dropped his pen. “What?”

“Jack. Tell us about him.”

“Uh…he’s my commander, the leader of SG-1. Why…?”

“Daniel,” Claire said, and Daniel suddenly remembered that she only used his full first name when he was in trouble, “there’s more to you and Jack than meets the eye. Isn’t there?”

“Wha…I…h-how did you know?” was all Daniel managed. _Nearly a year of hiding our relationship from the Air Force, from the NID, from our closest friends for God’s sake—and my mother figures it out in less than a day!?_

Claire smiled warmly. “Your eyes,” she answered. “They light up a little every time you say his name.”

Daniel couldn’t help the grin that burst across his face at his mother’s words, though he quickly moved a hand up to his face to shield his expression from the Jaffa while he got himself under control.

“I knew it,” Claire whispered. “You love him, don’t you?”

“I…ah…” Daniel was still so floored that Claire had just _gone there_ that he needed a moment to remember how to form words. “Yeah,” he finally managed. “I do, Mom.”

“So,” Claire prompted after a few seconds. “Tell us about him! What’s he like?”

“He’s, uh…” _God damn it, Daniel, you’re a linguist describing the man you love. Surely you have something intelligent to say._ But the only thing that came to Daniel’s mind was, “He’s just Jack. I…”

Melburn chuckled a little bit. “Not quite how you imagined coming out to your parents, huh, Danny? Which, incidentally, we’re both okay with it as long as you’re happy.”

“I never had a reason to imagine this,” Daniel replied softly, suddenly sobering up, and Melburn quickly reached out to give his shoulder a squeeze.

“Give us _something_ , Danny,” Claire said. “Is he tall? Short?” She smirked a little bit. “Ugly?”

“No!” Daniel replied immediately, prompting a chuckle from both of his parents. “No, he’s about my height, a little taller. He’s older than me—he’s actually going gray, but you can’t say that to him.” Claire and Melburn both smiled a little at that. “He’s…not skinny, exactly, but he’s in good shape—he’s in the military, so he has to be…”

“Handsome?” Claire asked, that sly little grin back again.

“Yes,” Daniel confirmed with little hesitation.

“I wish we could meet him,” Claire said wistfully. “Right, Melburn? Don’t you want to meet Jack?”

“Huh? Yeah,” Melburn said, apparently taking a sudden interest in his translation.

“You’ll get to meet him,” Daniel told his mother. “He’s coming for me.”

“Danny…” Claire began, but Daniel held up a finger to stop her.

“I know you’ve been here for a long time—God, do I know—but Jack is looking for me, and if anyone can find this place, it’s him.” Then he thought about that and corrected, “Well, actually it’s Sam, but Jack will help. We’ll be back on Earth by the end of the week.”

Claire’s lips smiled, but her eyes didn’t. “That’s why you love him,” she said quietly. “Because he takes care of you.”

Daniel thought about that. Thought about Jack straightening his vest for him in the Gate Room, or covering him during a firefight, or holding onto him at night when the thunder outside was just too loud. Just Jack’s presence was enough to make him feel warm, safe, loved. There were plenty of reasons Daniel loved Jack, but his mother had hit the nail right on the head.

“Yeah,” he answered. Then he couldn’t help but add, “He also does this great back massage…”

Claire laughed again as Melburn suddenly tore a page from his notebook crumpling it up in his hand and setting it on the ground between his legs. “Everything okay?” Claire asked him.

“What? Oh, yeah,” Melburn answered quickly. “I just got my languages all backwards. Old age, I guess. Just wrote a bunch of gibberish.”

Claire just smiled and resumed her own translation, but Daniel caught a small detail—his father’s slightly clenched fist. Clenched the same way that Daniel tended to do. When he was lying.

“Dad…” he said carefully. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, Danny.” But the fist remained.

Suspicious, Daniel slowly leaned forward, trying to make the movement look natural, but Melburn noticed almost immediately. All Daniel caught on the crumpled page was the word “achievement” before Melburn snatched it out of view. “Just drop it, Danny,” he said, reaching up to cup his son’s face. “Alright?”

Daniel held his gaze for a moment, but nodded. Claire looked confused for a moment, but said nothing of the odd exchange, instead asking Daniel more questions about SG-1. Daniel answered, but now his mind was only half in the answer. Why had his father just lied to him? More importantly, why was he willing to lie to Hecate about a translation? Didn’t he know how risky that was? How much Hecate could hurt him?

Eventually, the work day was done, and the Jaffa ordered them to stand. Stretching his very cramped legs, Daniel hobbled after his parents back to their sleeping quarters, where they were once again locked in.

The moment the Jaffa were out of earshot, Daniel turned to his father and whispered, “I know what you’re doing.”

“Danny, please…” Melburn breathed. “Don’t drag yourself into this, too.”

He sounded so truly desperate that Daniel almost couldn’t continue, but he forced himself to speak anyway, carefully maintaining the quietest voice that he could handle, “You found something about what we’re searching for: the Feat of the Ancients. And you’re hiding it. Why?”

“Melburn?” Claire asked softly. “Is that true?”

Melburn glanced around anxiously, then pulled his wife and son back to their three sleeping palettes, quickly encouraging them to sit down. “About a year ago…” he began, so softly that Daniel and Claire had to strain to hear him, “I translated a section of Phoenician that read ‘Feat of the Ancients.’ It was beside a set of seven symbols—that’s your Stargate, right?” he asked Daniel, who nodded. “I wasn’t sure what they meant,” Melburn continued, “but I thought they must be some method of locating whatever this Feat was. For a moment I was excited. I thought if I found the answer, then…then we could go home.”

He trailed off, looking so helpless that Claire immediately put an arm around him. “What happened?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Melburn sighed. “Because that section explained what the Feat of the Ancients is,” he finally answered, “and why it was hidden in the first place.”

“Why?” Claire asked, but Daniel had already put the pieces together.

“It’s a weapon,” he said softly. “Isn’t it?”

Melburn nodded.

“How bad?”

“Bad. It could destroy whole planets, as far as I could tell, and something about radiation affecting solar systems for centuries afterwards. I don’t know. It got too technical for me after that.”

“So you hid it,” Daniel confirmed. “You’ve been hiding anything you find for a year now…”

“Well, I thought that anyone who was willing to fake the deaths of a large group of archaeologists and hold them captive for years on end wasn’t someone we wanted to have control of a superweapon,” Melburn said.

“But, God, Dad…do you have any idea how dangerous that was? What she can do to you if she finds out?”

“Which is exactly why I didn’t want you two knowing about it.” Melburn sighed, burying his head in his hands. “It’s a lot safer if it’s just me.”

“Sweetheart…” Claire murmured, stroking a hand up and down her husband’s arm.

Daniel closed his eyes, considering. “Dad,” he started, “this is important. Can you remember the Gate address? The seven symbols?”

Melburn thought for a moment, nodding slowly. “I think so.”

“Good,” Daniel said. “We’ll need to make sure we find it before she does.”

“How?” Claire asked. “We can’t leave.”

“My friends are coming,” Daniel reminded her stubbornly. “They’ll get us out, and then we’ll go find this weapon, and either destroy it or hide it. If Dad’s right, we can let anyone have control over this. It’s too dangerous.”

“You sound like you make decisions like this a lot,” Claire whispered.

Daniel nodded. “It’s all part of the job. It’s not all as glamorous as it sounds.”

“No,” Claire murmured. “I suppose it isn’t.”

Melburn sighed again and lay back on his thin mattress, staring at the ceiling. “I just hope we can keep this up,” he said. “I have no idea how I’ve managed it for this long.”

Claire grabbed onto Melburn’s hand and squeezed it; on impulse, Daniel reached for his other. “But you’re not alone now, honey,” she told him gently. “I’m here—we’re both here.”

But Melburn just closed his eyes. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”

Claire stroked the hair away from his forehead for a few moments, then settled down beside him. Daniel sat up for a few minutes more, still holding Melburn’s hand, cursing his father’s overly altruistic and self-sacrificial nature. He could practically hear Jack’s voice beside him: _well, you had to get it from somewhere, Daniel…_

Eventually, Daniel lay back, too, falling asleep beside his parents once more. Yeah. He could get used to this. If only this reunion could have taken place far, far from here, away from power hungry Goa’ulds and mysterious temples and odd translations. _We’ll be home soon,_ he kept reminding himself. _Jack will be here soon and we’ll all go home to Earth. Jack will be here soon…_


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack lets his emotions run away with him onboard the tel'tak.

Twenty-four hours had passed since Jacob and SG-1 had begun following the mysterious reading, and Jack had spent most of them alone in the tel’tak’s cargo bay.

He had made a genuine effort, at first, sitting with everyone else and watching the main console anxiously for any indication that they were making progress. However, after two hours passed, he had realized that he simply couldn’t do it and made his way back to the large, empty cargo bay. It wasn’t until he reached it that he remembered—If Daniel were here, they would currently be goofing off and annoying the hell out of each other in this very room. Not sure if the thought depressed him or cheered him up, Jack just settled down into the corner and waited, letting his dark thoughts run away with him.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew, Carter was shaking him awake.

“Carter?” he grumbled as he slowly sat up.

“Sorry to wake you, sir,” she began softly, “but it’s just…we’re all eating up front, and you’ve been back here alone for almost eighteen hours…”

“Only eighteen?” Jack mumbled. He felt like he had been sitting there remembering tel’tak trips with Daniel for at least a week.

Carter just sighed. “We’re really worried about you, Jack…” She blinked a little in surprise, as though she hadn’t intended to use his name, but continued regardless. “Will you come up and sit with us? Please?”

Jack thought for a moment, then nodded. He wasn’t doing himself any good back here. Climbing rather ungracefully to his feet, Jack followed Carter back up to the front of the tel’tak. Teal’c spoke to him, and Jack grumbled something back, accepting the MRE being handed to him. As Teal’c and Jacob occupied the only two chairs in the tel’tak, Jack simply sank back down to the floor and began to eat. Carter settled beside him.

“Any progress up here?” Jack asked through a mouthful of very mediocre food.

“We’ve made progress, certainly, but we still don’t have a point of origin, if that’s what you’re asking,” Jacob informed him.

Jack just sighed through his meal. “So we’re no closer to finding anything.”

“We’re definitely closer, sir,” Sam tried to console him. “Just give it time.”

“Time. Yeah. You still have no idea how _much_ time, though, isn’t that right, _Major?”_ Jack could hear the crabbiness in his own voice, and resented it, knowing that there was no reason to take that tone with his teammates who had no more control over the situation than he did, but unable to speak in with a more civil tongue.

Carter had no response; she simply looked down at the floor, stung. “Jack,” Jacob warned, speaking up in his daughter’s defense, “she’s doing everything she can. We all are. I’m sorry if you’re feeling a little useless back there, but there’s no reason to take it out on Sam.”

“‘Useless’?” Jack echoed. “Right. I’m just the big stupid colonel sitting around waiting for something to shoot at. Is that it?” He could feel a new kind of rage brewing inside him, and rather than shooting it down as he knew he should, he instead let it fester and take over.

“Sir…” Carter attempted, but this monster inside Jack wouldn’t let her even get started.

“Well, it’s your own damn fault for not finding something faster, _Samantha,_ ” he snarled, the savagery in his tone taking everyone aback. “By all means, keep inviting me up for dinner just to make yourself feel better—keep your _useless_ commander company to cover up for the fact that _you haven’t been able to do a damn thing_.”

Carter just stared at him, eyes brimming with shock and just a hint of tears.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said, a warning note mixed with a barely restrained fury. “You must desist. Major Carter and her father are doing everything possible. We all wish to solve this as desperately as you.”

Jack fixed Teal’c with a vicious look. “Oh, I’m _sure_ you do, Teal’c,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “You just _loved_ Daniel, didn’t you? Loved him like a brother, right? Your pal? Your teammate Daniel? That’s why you murdered his wife, right?”

There was an unspoken agreement between the members of SG-1 never to bring up what Jack had just savagely flung into Teal’c’s face. Carter breathed in a soft gasp beside him. Even Jacob, who barely understood the context, looked appalled. Teal’c simply gaped at Jack, his mouth hanging slightly open in a mixture of shock, regret, and anger.

Jack didn’t stick around to see the aftermath. He surged to his feet and stormed back into the cargo bay before anyone could come up with a response.

The moment he was out of view, Jack leaned back against the wall, his breath coming in pants and tears threatening to escape the confines of his tightly closed eyes. _You’re a fucking idiot, O’Neill. You’re a useless fucking idiot. What possessed you to say that to her? To him? They’re your teammates—they’re your closest friends. And you’ve just alienated everyone. You’re an asshole._

His emotions overwhelming him, Jack slid down the wall, slithering into a heap on the dirty floor. He found himself curled up into a ball, gasping for breath and fighting back confused sobs. _How could you. You asshole. They deserve better than this. They deserve better than you. Daniel deserved better than you. How could you._

Jack brought his hands up to his head, feeling a physical need to wrench the tormenting voice from his head. But there was nothing to do—the voice was him. He was his own enemy. Jack O’Neill—the angry, alcoholic, suicidal Air Force colonel who’d let his son shoot himself, let his wife run out on him, left his lover alone to die in some fucking alien temple…

He was the problem. Him and his own fucked up head. He was always the problem. Daniel was better off dead than stuck with a guy like him.

Jack clung onto the name. _What would Daniel say to me right now?_

And suddenly, it was as if Jack could hear his lover’s voice, speaking to him. _It’s not your fault, Jack,_ he would say. _Yes, you were an asshole, but you just lost your temper. At the end of the day, you’re still the man I love and the man I trust with my life._ Most of all, Daniel would simply say, _There’s still hope._ Yeah. _There’s still hope for you and there’s still hope for me._

The tears Jack had been holding onto finally slipped out, and Jack lay there, curled into a fetal position on the tel’tak cargo bay floor, sobbing, gasping something that might have been Daniel’s name, over and over and over, until there was nothing left to do except breathe.

* * *

 

“I’m sorry.”

Jack had never had so much difficulty saying two such simple words in his life. About an hour had passed, during which Jack had managed to regain control of himself before slowly returning to the bridge. No one had noticed him entering in the back, but now Carter and Teal’c both turned his way. Jacob kept his eyes on the console, apparently determined to keep well out of this conversation.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Jack continued, staring at the floor, uncomfortably aware of two pairs of eyes on him, “but that was…”

“It’s okay, sir,” Carter told him quietly.

“No, it’s not,” Jack said. “You didn’t deserve that. Neither of you.” He turned directly to Teal’c to repeat a very heartfelt, “I’m sorry.”

Teal’c inclined his head slightly. “It is understandable for such emotions during these times, O’Neill.” Jack just nodded. It wasn’t forgiveness, exactly, but it was something.

No one seemed to know what to say next, so Carter grabbed his half-eaten meal from the floor. “Did you want to finish?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Jack took a seat on the floor beside Carter, letting his hand brush against hers a bit more than necessary as she handed the food back to him. She seemed to understand, actually taking his hand for a moment to give it a comforting squeeze.

Relieved to have the worst part of the apology over with, Jack played with his food, not actually eating it. “I don’t get it,” he said finally. “You guys have to feel as horrible about this as I do. But you’re not yelling at people or smashing things or…” He sighed. “What the hell’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Carter assured him. “Everyone does stupid things when they lose someone they care about. And…” She trailed off, exchanging a glance with Teal’c before continuing, “Sir, it’s just a fact of our team that you and Daniel were closer than any of us ever will be.”

“Huh?” Jack stared, not taking her meaning. She didn’t know about his and Daniel’s relationship, so what was she talking about?

Carter looked at Teal’c for help, but receiving nothing but a slight nod, she continued, “There’s always been a stronger bond between you and him. Ever since our first mission—or probably your first mission to Abydos. We’ve never resented it,” she added hastily, “but we’ve also never questioned it. You and Daniel are—were,” she corrected herself, “the heart of the team.”

Carter seemed very unsure of herself and slightly surprised that she had said any of that out loud. Jack simply sat there, stunned, staring at his food as though he expected it to speak to him. He had known that he and Daniel had a strong friendship outside of their romance, and he knew that it was obvious to anyone within thirty feet of them that they cared about each other. But for the first time, it occurred to him that Carter and Teal’c could feel it, too. And somehow, Jack knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they could be trusted.

He had known that for years, truly, but he and Daniel had never wanted to put something as huge as this in their hands. Hell, Jack could be dishonorably discharged if news of his and Daniel’s relationship spread—but Carter and Teal’c could handle it. He already trusted them with his life. Why not trust them with his heart as well?

The tel’tak had been silent for several minutes when Jack finally spoke.

“We were together,” he said softly, aware of Carter and Teal’c both watching him intently. “Daniel and I. We, uh…”

Well, he couldn’t very well stop now. Haltingly, stumbling over himself, Jack continued. “A few months after…Sha’re…we, uh, we couldn’t hide it anymore. How we felt. So we started…seeing each other. Romantically. It was just little things at first—getting together after missions, watching movies, getting takeout, spending the night at each other’s places…He practically lives at my house now. Shares my clothes, eats my food, we would fall asleep in the same bed…”

Uncomfortably aware of how often he switched between past and present tense, Jack finally just laid it all out there. “I don’t know if he’s alive or not, but…God, I miss him. I need him. I…” _Love him._ The words hung unspoken in the air.

Carter and Teal’c sat still for a moment, still watching Jack, taking this new information about their teammates in. Jack could only wait. He felt like he was on trial, awaiting the verdict. Would they accept this or not?

Then Carter shifted forward to wrap her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. Jack gasped, but held onto her.

“We shall find whoever is responsible, O’Neill,” Teal’c promised from his seat. “And if he lives, we will bring him home.”

Jack released a shaky breath into Carter’s shoulder. He might not have Daniel, but he had his team, and that made everything a little better.

“This might happen sooner than you think,” Jacob said suddenly, reminding everyone of his presence. “We’ve got something.”

Jack stiffened in Carter’s arms. “What?”

“A planet.” Jacob was tapping the console, trying to get a clearer readout. “I can’t tell much from this distance, but it’s definitely the source of the signal.” He glanced back at Jack. “We’ll be there within a day.”

Jack let himself remain in Carter’s arms, shaking a little. “We’re gonna get him, Sam,” he whispered to her, not sure who or what he was referring to, but she understood, running a hand up and down his back. “We’re gonna get him.” _I’m coming Danny. We’re all coming. Just hang on._


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hecate finds out that the Jacksons have been holding out on her.

It was Claire who shook Daniel awake the next morning and encouraged him to stand. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Daniel mumbled out, “Good morning.” Claire smiled in response, giving his arm a quick stroke before turning to her husband.

Daniel dimly registered his parents’ morning conversation as his gaze travelled around the room. The Jaffa were back, shaking any stragglers awake and dragging them to their feet. As several of them skirted the room to stand behind their prisoners, someone caught Daniels’ attention—Brooks. He hadn’t spoken to the man since he had first arrived, and made brief eye contact. He did his best to convey sympathy and encouragement with a simple glance, but Brooks gave him a steely look in return. _What?_

As Daniel watched, Brooks marched over to the nearest Jaffa, who immediately drew his zat. Raising his hands in submission, Brooks spoke to him in a low voice, then gestured over to Daniel and his parents. The Jaffa considered for a moment, then motioned for Brooks to follow as he moved to speak with several of his comrades.

“Mom, Dad,” Daniel said under his breath. “We may have a problem.”

“What is it, sweetie?” Claire asked.

“I don’t know, but Doctor Brooks is telling the Jaffa something and they keep looking right at us.”

“Oh God.” Melburn’s face went pale. “You don’t think…he heard?”

Daniel blinked. “Last night? When we were talking about…” He trailed off as the implications of that train of thought hit home—if Brooks knew that Melburn could find the Feat of the Ancients and told Hecate, no one stood a chance. “Oh hell,” Daniel breathed.

_“Jaffa! Kree!”_

One of the Jaffa, clearly the one in charge at the moment, barked the command, and all of the guards in the room turned to him. He delivered a few more sharp words, and in a sudden burst of moment, the three Jacksons found themselves surrounded by Jaffa, all with zats at the ready. Everyone else in the room looked slightly alarmed, but did nothing to aid their fellow prisoners, deterred by the handful of weapons still pointed at them. Daniel noticed one guard slip out the door, presumably to fetch Hecate.

“What is the meaning of this?” Melburn demanded, trying his best to sound shocked.

“You have been hiding knowledge from our lord Hecate. She will be arriving momentarily to force the truth from you.”

Claire started shaking, and Daniel put an arm around her as Melburn continued to address the lead Jaffa. “Who told you this? We’ve been nothing but—”

“Silence!” the Jaffa ordered, and Melburn immediately snapped his mouth shut.

Daniel’s mind raced. Hecate was going to be here in moments. Daniel would never talk if she threatened him, and Melburn probably wouldn’t either—but if they threatened his family? He honestly didn’t know. Judging by the way Claire was trembling beside him, she would never last under torture. They would have to tell her what they knew, and then she could find a superweapon that could destroy whole planets. They were fucked. They were utterly, royally fucked.

Catching Brooks out of the corner of his eye, Daniel turned to look him full in the face. _This is your fault,_ he sent through his glare. _Everyone here is going to die and it’s your fault._ Brooks had the decency to look slightly guilty, but he kept his head high as Hecate strolled into the room.

The Goa’uld carried herself like a System Lord, but there was an urgency to her step. The guard who had retrieved her followed her in, as well as the First Prime. _Oh shit. Here we go._

“Doctor Jackson,” she began as she approached, looking directly at Daniel, “I should have known you would cause trouble from the very beginning.”

“Sorry, who are you talking to?” Daniel asked in a mock innocent voice, only the tight grip on his mother revealing how scared he truly was. “It’s just—there are three Doctor Jacksons here, so you might want to be a _little_ bit more specific.”

The statement actually seemed to take Hecate by surprise, and she looked the three captives up and down, her eyes widening in realization. “Ah. I should have realized.” She stepped even closer, within the circle of Jaffa, stopping directly in front of Melburn. “I do recall planning your retrievals. I was rather proud of that demise—crushed while setting up a museum display.” She smiled, a cruel smile that distorted her features. “Do you want to know why I remember yours so clearly, more so than all of the others here?”

Melburn didn’t satisfy her with an answer, but Hecate continued regardless. “Because of him,” she stated, pointing at Daniel. “Yes, I was aware that you had a child when I plotted to bring you here, but his response was more than I could have ever dreamed—oh! Of course. How foolish of me.” She stepped over to Claire now, speaking directly to her, and Daniel held onto her even more tightly. “You weren’t there to see your son’s reaction to your death.”

“Don’t,” Daniel said, a harsh breath of a word. His parents had probably imagined this enough over the past twenty-seven years—they didn’t need a play-by-play of Daniel’s reactions to their deaths.

Hecate continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “I, fortunately, was witness to the entire affair. Your son screamed for you. He ran towards you, fighting everyone that tried to hold him back, crying and screaming—ah! It was like music to my ears. Knowing that your actions will orphan a child and actually witnessing it happen are two very different sensations.” She now turned to Daniel, that cruel smile still on her face. “How foolish of me to never make the connection—that screaming child grew up to be the famous Daniel Jackson of SG-1.”

Daniel clenched his jaw so tightly that it hurt, and he was pretty sure that his death grip on his mother was starting to bruise her arm. Hecate had planned this. She had trapped his parents in this torturous life, working as slaves, translating day after day with barely enough food to survive for nearly thirty years. She had known that her plans would leave him parentless, alone and terrified, and she had gone through with them anyway. And worst of all, she had enjoyed it. She had actually enjoyed watching an eight-year-old child become an orphan. The only thing that stopped him from throwing himself at her and strangling her were the weapons aimed at his family.

Hecate could sense the rage under his skin and smiled again. “You should be grateful,” she informed him. “Were it not for me, you would never be reunited with your dear parents.”

“Go to hell,” was Daniel’s eloquent reply.

Hecate chuckled as she backed away. “Now,” she began, “which of you has been hiding information from me?”

Daniel kept his mouth tightly shut, and was relieved when his parents did the same. Hecate frowned. “There is no point trying to conceal it from me,” she said. “I will not hesitate to torture the information from you.”

Still, no one responded, until Brooks suddenly stepped forward. “It’s him,” he said, pointing at Melburn. “I heard them last night. He knows something about the Feat of the Ancients.”

“Brooks, what are you doing?” Daniel hissed.

Brooks exploded. “I’ve been here ten years looking for this damn thing!” he yelled. “Ten years of translating, day after day after day, waiting to go home. Then I find out _he_ —” Brooks gestured furiously at Melburn, “knows what it is. Has known for a whole year. And he’s been holding it out on us. Of course I told Hecate,” he finished. “I just want to go home.”

“You’re an idiot,” Daniel told him, quite sincerely.

“Your loyalty shall be rewarded,” Hecate told Brooks, and Daniel got the sinking feeling that it wasn’t a reward Brooks would enjoy. “But first, to you.” She stepped back over to Melburn, invading his personal space and looking him directly in the eye. To Melburn’s credit, he barely flinched. “Tell me what you know,” Hecate said softly.

Melburn stood his ground, not saying a word, but Daniel could see his clenched fist trembling. After a moment, Hecate stepped back. “Search him.”

Daniel and Claire both shouted in protest, but hands grabbed onto them and held them back. Daniel felt Claire slip out from his arm as they were pulled apart. Meanwhile, two Jaffa grabbed onto Melburn’s arms, holding him in place while the First Prime began digging through his pockets and clothes. Eventually, he produced the crumpled paper that Melburn had snatched out of sight the day before and handed it to Hecate.

The Goa’uld barely glanced at it. “There’s nothing here,” she said. “Just a mention of the Feat. There is no new information.”

“That can’t be!” Brooks protested. “He said he found something else earlier, a, uh, what did he call it…? It was a group of symbols. Something address. Gate address! That’s it.”

Hecate turned back to her captives, and her eyes glowed not with gold, but with a vicious delight. Daniel suppressed a groan, briefly closing his eyes. This was the last thing they needed. Hecate saw his dismay and laughed as she returned to Melburn. “So you know the address of the planet I seek,” she said softly. “Tell me.”

Melburn shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “Torture me all you want. I won’t do it.”

“I wouldn’t dream of torturing _you_ , Doctor Jackson,” came Hecate’s reply, and Melburn gasped.

“No,” he whispered, but Hecate was already walking away. Daniel stiffened as she walked directly towards him, raising her hand to reveal her ribbon device. _Oh hell, not again…_

Hecate turned back to Melburn. “Tell me the address.”

“Don’t do it, Dad,” Daniel interjected before Melburn even had a chance to respond. “I’ve done this before. It’s not that bad,” he lied.

Hecate ignored him. “Well?”

Melburn considered for a moment, then shook his head.

“Very well,” Hecate said, then raised her hand to Daniel’s forehead and activated the device.

It was every bit as horrible as he remembered. A pain so sharp and concentrated that he couldn’t even cry out, he simply winced and twitched in the Jaffa’s arms, making the occasional suppressed grunt.

“Danny!” Claire screamed.

The device deactivated, and Daniel was left gasping for breath. “The address?” Hecate asked Melburn again.

“I can’t.” Sorrow and anguish was evident on every molecule of Melburn’s face.

Immediately, the ribbon device was back at Daniel’s forehead, at a higher level this time. Daniel felt his whole body began to shake under the pain, and was aware of hissing noises coming from his mouth, but had no control over them.

“Stop! Please!” Claire was fighting the Jaffa holding her to reach her son, but they restrained her easily.

“The address?” Hecate demanded, not deactivating the device this time.

Melburn was also beginning to struggle against his guards. “I can’t!” he repeated, more urgently.

The ribbon device turned to an even higher setting, and Daniel managed a little whimper as his legs gave out from underneath him. Were it not for the Jaffa holding him, he would have simply collapsed; however, the hands on his arms held his face up closer to the device, closer to the pain. “Melburn!” Claire screamed, and at the sound of his wife’s panic, Melburn suddenly gave in.

“Stop it! God, please, stop it!”

Hecate lowered her arm, and the pain in Daniel’s head abruptly stopped, leaving behind the aftershocks that Daniel knew would last for hours. On Hecate’s command, the Jaffa holding Daniel released him, and he slithered to the ground, panting in relief as he tried to get himself under control. Claire struggled to reach him, a few errant tears running down her face, and Hecate signaled that she could go. A moment later, Daniel found himself gathered into his mother’s arms, his head in her lap as she stroked his hair.

“The address?” Hecate demanded, and Melburn sighed.

“I remember it. I can draw it for you.”

“Excellent.” Hecate motioned to one of the Jaffa for a notebook and pen and handed them to Melburn. “Be sure that it is correct,” she warned.

“Dad, no,” Daniel groaned.

“I’m sorry, Danny,” Melburn whispered, and he began to draw in the notebook. “I think this is it,” he said, handing the notebook back to Hecate. “But it has been a year since I saw it. I could be wrong.”

Hecate simply smiled. “If you are, you know what will happen to your son,” she told him, and Melburn went pale.

“We shall leave immediately,” Hecate declared, turning to her First Prime. “You will come with me, as well as your best men, and him.” She pointed to Melburn, and Claire gasped.

“Why me?” Melburn asked.

“You have seen more about the Feat than anyone here,” Hecate answered. “Possibly more even than I. You will come and assist me.”

Melburn steeled himself, standing his ground even as the Jaffa prepared to drag him away. “I won’t help you anymore,” he declared. “I’ve already told you too much.”

Hecate sighed. “You never learn,” she said quietly. “I have your family. And you _will_ assist me.” She paused. “Bring him as well.”

Daniel wasn’t terribly surprised to see Hecate point down to him, but Claire grabbed onto him, trying to shield his body with her own. “No!” she said. “He’s not going anywhere with you. Look at what you’ve done to him.”

“Mom, I’m okay,” Daniel whispered. “We’ll be okay.”

“No!” Claire protested again, but hands were already dragging her away and yanking Daniel to his feet. His head still throbbed and he swayed a little, but he more or less managed to keep his own balance. _Must be getting used to this._

“Take me too!” Claire shouted, struggling with the Jaffa holding her back.

“No, my dear,” Hecate answered, stepping up to Claire and stroking a hand across her face possessively. Melburn yanked at his captors’ grip, but of course did not manage to pull free. “No, you will remain here while your husband and son attend me.”

Claire was shaking, but she looked Hecate right in the eyes before spitting in her face.

_Go Mom,_ Daniel thought, right before one of the Jaffa smacked her down to the ground. “Hey!” he yelled furiously. “Leave her alone!”

Hecate turned to face him, her eyes glimmering. “Come!” she ordered, marching from the room, and Daniel and Melburn were pulled after her. Melburn managed to walk, but Daniel’s legs were still jelly, and he found himself being more or less dragged across the room as he fought to keep up.

“Keep the rest here!” Hecate ordered the remaining Jaffa. “No one leaves this room until I return.”

“Yes, my lord,” several voices answered.

“Danny! Melburn!” Daniel dimly heard his mother calling for them, and managed to shout back, “It’ll be okay, Mom! I promise.”

“Empty words,” Hecate said, and the door closed behind them, cutting off Claire’s desperate cries.

As Daniel was dragged to the Stargate on the other side of the temple, dread filled him. They were going to help a Goa’uld find a superweapon, which she would presumably use to take over the universe and become a System Lord. Daniel had no idea where they were, where they were going, or how in the world he was going to stop her.

_I need you, Jack._ Daniel almost whispered his thoughts. _Hell, the universe needs you this time. You and SG-1. Where are you guys? Where are you, Jack? Where are you?_


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SG-1 arrives at Hecate's temple and does not encounter the Jackson that they expected.

Jack fiddled with his P-90 as the _tel’tak_ made orbit around the planet. They were here, _finally_ —wherever the hell _here_ was, and Jack was itching for something to shoot at.

“Tell me what you’ve got,” he told Jacob and Carter, who had taken over Teal’c’s seat at the controls.

“There are life signs down there, and at least two structures.” Jacob narrowed his eyes at the console. “One seems to be of Goa’uld design—not a _ha’tak_ or a temple, maybe a lower level Goa’uld’s main base of operations.”

“Goa’uld. Great,” Jack muttered. “How many people are in there?”

“Only a half dozen or so,” Jacob replied. “All of the other signs are bunched together in one place in the other structure.”

Jack just nodded. “How do we get down there?”

“There’s a ring platform,” Carter told him. “Actually, it looks like there are two, one in each place.”

“I can send you down to the smaller first,” Jacob said.

Jack was already making his way back to the rings in the cargo bay. “Carter, Teal’c,” he called. “Let’s go.”

His team quickly joining him, Jack shouted to Jacob, “We’re good to go!”

“Good luck!” Jacob called back sincerely. “Go find this son of a bitch.”

“With pleasure,” Jack answered, more to himself than anyone else as the rings rose up around him and SG-1 vanished in a burst of light.

A Jaffa was waiting for them when they arrived, but he was so startled that Jack quickly took him out with several well-placed shots. The sound of gunfire brought two more guards down on them, which Carter and Teal’c took care of.

“Jacob, where are the rest?” Jack said into his radio.

“Two more in the next chamber over, headed your way,” came the reply. Teal’c rushed past Jack into the corridor, and two quick staff blasts told Jack that they wouldn’t be a problem anymore. “Anyone else?” Jack asked.

“There’s one more. Head out to into the corridor, three doors down on your left.”

Jack did as Jacob said, signaling Carter to stay close behind him. Passing Teal’c in the hall, the three crept down to the third door. “Don’t shoot him,” Jack ordered in a whisper. “Keep him alive if you can.” Carter and Teal’c both nodded, and at Jack’s signal, the three rounded the corner, immediately spotting the final Jaffa and training their weapons on him.

“Aht!” Jack warned as the Jaffa raised his zat. “Drop it!”

The Jaffa considered for a moment, but upon seeing the deadly seriousness in their eyes, slowly lowered his weapon to the ground and kicked it away; Carter bent down to grab it. “Teal’c, watch him,” Jack ordered, and Teal’c nodded, his eyes never leaving their captive. All the guards now taken care of, Jack began walking in a giant circle, taking in his surroundings for the first time.

They appeared to be in a Goa’uld throne room—at least, it looked like it belonged to someone as pretentiously evil as a Goa’uld. Everything was ornate and golden, though the place looked a bit run-down. Looked like Jacob’s assumption about a lower level Goa’uld might be correct.

“Sir,” Carter said, and Jack turned to her. “Look at this.” She stood in the back of the room, crouched down at the head of a Goa’uld sarcophagus.

“What is it?” Jack asked, squatting beside her. “We’ve seen sarcophaguses—sarcophagi? Whatever. We’ve seen it before.”

“Not like this,” Carter replied. “Look.”

Jack followed her pointing finger to a small device fixed to the head of the sarcophagus. It was made of a lighter metal, about the size of a computer, very noticeably stuck on after the fact. Jack had never seen anything like it before. “So what is it?”

Carter was exploring it with her hands to see if it opened. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to say for certain, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was Ancient.”

“Ancient as in old or Ancient as in…Ancient?”

“As in Ancient, sir.” She thumbed her radio. “Dad, how much can you narrow down the source of that reading we followed here?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jacob answered. “Hang on.” There were a few beeping noises in the background, then Jacob said, “As far as I can tell, it’s coming from right in front of you.”

“Then this is the source,” Carter confirmed. “This is what we tracked here.”

Jack considered. “You said it was like Asgard beaming technology, right?” Carter nodded. “So it transported something here from P47.”

“That’s just a guess, sir,” Carter reminded him, “but it’s possible. I’ll try to take it apart, figure out more.”

“Alright. In the meantime…” Jack rose to his feet and strolled over to the Jaffa, letting all of his foul mood seep into his movements. And the Jaffa noticed. He tried to hide it, but he was backing away with tiny steps.

“Now,” Jack began, holding up his P-90 for the other man to see, “I have had a lousy few weeks, so I’m only going to say this once. I know you want to show loyalty to your god and all that, but just skip it today. If you don’t tell me what I want to hear, I’m going to shoot you. Got it?”

The Jaffa gave a shaky nod. Clearly, he wasn’t used to this kind of threatening. _Buddy, you are in the wrong line of work if you can’t handle this._

“Great.” Jack took careful aim at the guard’s heart. “First question—which overdramatic Goa’uld calls the shots here?”

The Jaffa swallowed nervously. “My—my lord Hecate.”

“I got nothing. Teal’c?”

“I am unaware of this Goa’uld,” Teal’c answered.

Jack grabbed his radio. “Jacob? Ever hear of a Goa’uld named Hecate?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Jack sighed. “Wonderful. New player. Okay, next question.” He returned his attention to the Jaffa and pointed to the device Carter was still attempting to pry open. “What does that thing do?”

“It, uh…” The Jaffa gulped, and Jack simply gripped his P-90 tighter. “I cannot explain exactly how it works.”

Jack gave the man a winning smile. “Sum it up for me.”

“As best I understand it, it transports and stores a consciousness.”

Well. Jack was not expecting that answer. “It what?” he asked.

“Where did you obtain such a device?” Teal’c asked, his low voice sounding truly menacing.

“My—my lord Hecate discovered it many years ago. I do not know where.”

Jack believed him. He was shaking too much to be lying. “Okay. What does your lord Hecate do with it?”

To Jack’s surprise, the Jaffa actually closed his mouth tightly shut. Jack and Teal’c both stepped forward at the same time, and their captive actually backed up into the wall. “Didn’t catch that,” Jack said, cocking his head. “What did you say?”

“I cannot,” the Jaffa whispered. “She will kill me.”

“Buddy,” Jack told him, holding his P-90 up for display, “ _we_ will kill you.”

“I would rather you kill me than she,” was all the Jaffa said as he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Jack smiled. “Alright, you got me. I lied. We’re not gonna kill you.”

Teal’c threw Jack a confused glance. The Jaffa opened his eyes, bewildered. Jack kept smiling—and shot him in the leg.

The Jaffa yelped as he collapsed, clutching at his bleeding limb. Jack stepped forward, the grin completely erased from his face. “O’Neill,” Teal’c warned him quietly as he passed, but Jack ignored him, crouching beside the trembling man.

“Now,” he started again, stroking his weapon almost lovingly. “What did you say Hecate does here again?” He laid the muzzle of his weapon against the Jaffa’s other leg.

Panting, the Jaffa took a moment to gather himself before answering. “She…she…” he gasped out. “She discovered a temple here, years before I was born. She found information about a weapon that she could use to fight her enemies and…and become a System Lord—the Feat of the Ancients. The weapon’s location is rumored to be hidden in the temple.”

“That’s more like it,” Jack told him, as though reassuring a child. “So what does she need that consciousness thing for?”

“The temple is too large for her to translate alone,” came the shuddering reply, “and there are too many languages.” He hesitated again, and Jack just tapped his gun on the Jaffa’s thigh, which promptly encouraged him to keep talking. “She requires…assistance.”

“What kind of assistance?”

“Translators,” the Jaffa answered. “Anyone who can translate enough of the languages in the temple. She…she finds a suitable candidate and…and plans their death. The moment before they are killed, she transports their consciousness here. After they are taken for dead, she brings their body here, restores it with the sarcophagus, and…returns their consciousness. Then they are sent to the temple to translate.”

The Jaffa seemed exhausted but relieved to finally have finished speaking to the pissed off man holding a gun to his leg. Jack nodded. “Carter? Any of this sound like bullshit to you?”

“Actually, from what I can tell, that’s quite plausible. From what little we know of Ancient technology, it’s most likely capable of something like this, and the connections between this device and the sarcophagus do suggest a direct transfer of some kind.” Jack could practically see her open her mouth to say what they were all thinking, but decided against it.

The obvious answer to the question burning in Jack’s mind dangled right in front of him, but he dreaded reaching to grab it in case it wasn’t truly there. Instead, he returned his full attention to the Jaffa in front of him.

“Great. You’re doing good. Now. Just one last question.” Slowly, Jack raised his weapon from the man’s leg and pressed it into his throat, pointing up towards his head, his finger unwavering on the trigger.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c warned again, louder this time, but Jack kept ignoring him.

“You say Hecate’s brought a lot of people here. Been doing it for years.” The Jaffa gave the slightest hint of a nod in acknowledgement, his eyes pinched tightly shut in terror. “So. What I’m looking for here is a one word answer. You’re gonna tell me ‘yes,’ or you’re gonna tell me ‘no.’ You got it?” Another tiny nod. Jack took a deep breath, braced himself, and asked the question, one slow word at a time.

“Is Daniel Jackson here?”

“I do not know.”

A strange noise erupted from Jack’s mouth—if he had to give a name to it, he would have called it a snarl. The Jaffa tried to shrink away from Jack’s weapon, doing his best to melt into the wall behind him. “No, please! I rarely guard the temple, I have only set foot there twice! I am not always present when the translators are revived. Please!” He was actually whimpering as Jack pressed the P-90 even more firmly into his throat, starting to make him gag.

“O’Neill,” came the stern voice from immediately beside him. “He does not know.”

But Jack’s vision was going red, and more than anything, he wanted to pull the trigger. He could feel his hand tightening around the weapon, preparing to do just that…

“O’Neill!” Teal’c laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder, and the world suddenly snapped back into focus. There was a Jaffa in front of him, no older than Daniel or Sam, shaking in terror while Jack pressed a P-90 into his neck. _What the hell am I doing?_ This kid had no idea what he was doing here. He’d probably been born into this Hecate’s service. He was as much a victim as any of them.

Slowly, Jack pulled his weapon away from the Jaffa, who gasped in relief and resumed nursing his bleeding leg. Jack rose to his feet, leaving Teal’c to attend to the terrified man, and strolled over to Carter, who had finally managed to open the Ancient device. “Can you tell anything from that?” he asked, trying to keep his voice level.

“Not really, “Carter told him. “I think the only way to find out who woke up in this is to go to the temple and talk to them ourselves.”

“Agreed,” Jack said. They both stood, returning to Teal’c, who was wrapping their captive’s leg in a makeshift bandage.

“Is he good to go?” Jack asked, and Teal’c rose to join them.

“Indeed,” he replied.

“Good. Carter, shoot him.”

The Jaffa gasped in alarm, but Carter understood, raising the zat she had retrieved earlier and stunning him into unconsciousness.

The room lapsed into an awkward silence. Neither Carter nor Teal’c mentioned Jack’s earlier actions. They didn’t need to. Jack knew how far he’d just gone. He also knew that, if circumstances required it, he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

“Jacob,” Jack finally said into his radio. “Can you tell how many Jaffa are at the other ring platform in the temple?”

“None, as far as I can tell,” Jacob answered. “They’re all still gathered together. I think they’re all in the same room. It’s harder to get a reading in that structure.”

“Can you tell how many are Jaffa and how many are human?”

“No, sorry. But you should be able to get in there undetected.”

“Great. Let’s go.” Jack gestured to Carter and Teal’c, who followed him back down the corridor and into the Ring Room. A short burst of light later, and they arrived in a room that took Jack’s breath away.

As much as Jack gave Daniel a hard time about his never ending lectures, he did have a mild interest in archaeology—who wouldn’t? It was a study of people, after all, people dead and buried long ago. Of course he would be intrigued by the field. This, however, was on another scale entirely. The place was just massive. More languages than Jack could count sprawled across the walls twining around each other with no noticeable pattern, simply a sprawling mess of writing. And it wasn’t just that room—more chambers and corridors lay spread out in every direction.

“Wow…” Carter breathed beside him.

Jack nodded in agreement. “Well, I can see why she needed help…”

“Jacob Carter,” Teal’c said into his radio, “Where is the chamber containing the remaining life signs?”

There was more beeping as Jacob checked his readings on the _tel’tak_. “It’s still hard to read the layout of this temple, but head northeast.”

Jack glanced at his compass, discovering a long corridor that led almost directly northeast. Gesturing to Carter and Teal’c, he made his way along it, keeping alert for any sign of trouble. _This Ancient superweapon might be a little too well hidden,_ he thought as he spotted even more languages spread out across the walls and even the ceiling. _This would take lifetimes to go through…_

After several minutes, they came upon a door that clearly was not part of the original temple—it simply looked too different. A scanner sat in the wall beside the door.

“How do we get in?” Jack whispered to Carter, who was already kneeling down to examine it.

“I can probably jury-rig it,” she whispered back. “But I actually think it might be faster to just shoot it. It’s not well-designed.”

“Hecate is a lower Goa’uld,” Teal’c said softly. “Perhaps she is unable to procure the finest technologies so readily available to System Lords.”

“So how did she end up with the consciousness thingamajig?”

“I believe you call it ‘dumb luck.’”

“Ah.” Jack thumbed his radio one more time. “Jacob, you can’t tell me anything about what’s through this door?”

“Sorry, Jack,” came the reply. “They’re in two clumps, a smaller and a larger, and I believe they’re on opposite ends of the room. Beyond that, you’re on your own.”

“Two clumps…” Jack mused. “Jaffa and prisoners?”

“It’s possible,” Carter agreed. “If they’re all together, then we have the element of surprise. Dad, how many are there in the smaller group?”

“Ten.”

Jack nodded. “We can handle ten.”

Carter rose from the floor and readied her P-90. Teal’c opened his staff weapon and took aim at the door scanner. _This is it,_ Jack thought. _If Daniel’s here, then he’s on the other side of this door…_

“On my mark,” Jack whispered. “Three…two…one…mark!”

Teal’c fired, the door opened, and the world become chaos for a short while.

They had been right—the two groups were Jaffa and prisoners. Taken completely by surprise, the Jaffa barely managed to turn their zats towards the intruders when a shower of bullets with a few staff blasts mixed in knocked them off their feet. A handful of shots came SG-1’s way, but were woefully misaimed. Clearly, this Hecate needed better Jaffa and worked with what she had. In less than a minute, all ten Jaffa were on the ground, dead or dying.

Teal’c moved over to them, checking that no one posed a threat any longer, while Carter began speaking to the prisoners, most of whom were huddling on the ground to escape the gunfire. “It’s all right!” she called. “You’re safe now.”

“We are clear, O’Neill,” Teal’c informed him, stepping to his side, but Jack barely heard. He was too busy scanning the crowd of faces as the people rose to their feet, still taking in the knowledge that they were free, searching for the geeky archaeologist who was sure to be sprinting towards him at any second…

But he wasn’t there.

Daniel wasn’t there.

“He’s not here…” Jack breathed. “He’s not here…”

Carter opened her mouth, but she clearly had no idea what to say. _It was all for nothing,_ Jack thought. _We came all this way, and Daniel’s not even here…He really did die on P47…He’s gone…Oh, God, he’s actually gone…_

“Excuse me,” a quiet voice said, “are you Jack O’Neill?”

Surprised to hear his name, Jack turned to answer, and found himself looking into a pair of blue eyes. Very familiar blue eyes, framed behind a pair of glasses. The speaker was a woman, older than him. She looked as though she had once been very beautiful, with blond hair and those blue, blue eyes…

“And you’re Sam,” the woman continued carefully, looking back at Carter behind him. “Samantha Carter. And that’s Teal’c, the Jaffa. You’re SG-1.” There was a slight wonder in her voice, as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

Facts floated around in Jack’s mind, and he slowly began to piece them together. A crazy Goa’uld needed people who could translate to help her find a superweapon. She did this by faking people’s deaths and bringing them here. She had been doing this for years. Since Daniel was a child… _no fucking way…_

“…Mrs. Jackson?” he said slowly.

Carter gasped. Teal’c raised an eyebrow. Jack just stared. _What the hell…?_

Mrs. Jackson—Jack suddenly remembered that her name was Claire—stepped forward, her eyes wide. “You have to help me,” she said in a shaking voice. “Hecate has Danny and Melburn and I don’t know where they are.”

Jack’s heart skipped a beat. “Daniel’s alive?” he breathed, unable to take his eyes off Claire’s face.

“Yes,” Claire confirmed. “At least he was. I don’t know! They’ve been gone for hours.”

Jack actually stumbled backwards a little bit. Daniel was alive. He had confirmation. _From the man’s mother._ Nowhere in his imaginings had he seen that one coming.

_Focus, O’Neill._ Yes, Daniel was alive. But he wasn’t safe. They still needed to find him.

Jack took a deep, shuddering breath and blinked a few times, hard. More or less under control, at least as much as he could be, Jack stepped back to Claire. “Tell me what happened,” he ordered. “Where did Hecate take him?”

“I don’t know,” Claire answered, her eyes shining with fear. “Melburn—my husband—was hiding something from her, the location of a superweapon we’ve all been brought here—”

“We know that part,” Jack interrupted. “What did your husband have?” _Husband. Damn. Both of Daniel’s parents are here!?_

“He found something, a, what did Danny call it, a Gate address. He didn’t want to tell her, he tried not to, but—she—she tortured Danny.” Claire was trembling now, clearly recalling the event.

Jack hissed, ready to murder this Hecate, whoever she was. Seeing Claire’s shakes get even worse, Jack once again forced himself to a semblance of calm, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Mrs. Jackson,” he said slowly, “this is important. Do you know the Gate address your husband had?”

And, damn it, Claire shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “He didn’t tell me. He was trying to protect me.”

_Well, now we know where Daniel gets it from,_ Jack thought. “Carter—” he began.

“I’m on it.” Carter was already sprinting out of the room, speaking into her radio. “Dad, there’s a Stargate on this planet. Can you tell me where?” Typical Carter. She was way ahead of him, trying to pull the last dialed address from the DHD control crystal.

In the meantime, Jack tried to think of another way to figure it out. “Do you know where he found the address?” he asked Claire.

Claire shook her head, clearly trying to get her shaking under control. “He said it was about a year ago, and in Pheonician…,” she said slowly, “so that would have been…” She looked up at Jack. “I can take you to the room we were in a year ago, see if I can find it.”

Jack liked her already. “Lead the way,” he told her.

“Wait,” Claire answered, and turned to everyone else in the room. “Who here can read Phoenician?”

There was no response. Clearly, the rest of the former captives were just shocked to be free.

Claire tried again. “Listen to me. I know you’re shocked and confused, but…” she swallowed nervously before continuing, “that woman is going to find a superweapon. And she is going to kill people. She is going to destroy whole planets and _she has my family._ ” Claire took in a great shuddering breath. “We need your help. Now. Who here can read Phoenician?”

About half of the hands in the room slowly raised in the air. “Please come with us,” Claire said, her tone sounding suspiciously like a command, before turning and leading the way out of the room, Jack immediately behind her. Teal’c waited until the others following had passed him, then took up the rear.

Jack lost all track of the corridors and chambers they turned down. “How the hell do you remember this?” he muttered as he trudged quickly after her.

“I’ve been here a long time,” came the answer.

After ten minutes of walking, Claire came to a stop. Jack could see why she had asked for help. The room was at least fifty feet by fifty feet—there was no way she could hope to find something that specific quickly. “Alright,” Claire said, immediately taking charge. Jack couldn’t help but gasp a little bit—her authoritative voice sounded exactly like Daniel’s. “We’re looking for Phoenician, for a mention of the Feat of the Ancients. There should be a set of seven symbols near it that look like constellations. Ignore everything else. Go!” she added, when no one moved.

The room became a sudden flurry of archaeologists in their element. People were scanning the writing, running their hands along the walls and muttering to themselves as they searched. Claire was the most frantic of them all, translating under her breath as she darted from side to side, reading everything.

“I’ve got it!” came an excited voice after a few minutes, and Claire and Jack were about to run over when the woman continued, “Wait, sorry. There’s only five symbols, and I think they’re Babylonian.”

Jack sighed, once again feeling utterly useless. He was going to have Daniel teach him some ancient languages if they found him. _When,_ he reminded himself. _When you find him. He’s alive remember?_ But Jack could only accept that when Daniel was in his arms again.

Then Claire was running back to him. “I found it! I found it!” She actually took Jack’s hand and led him over to the wall. “There!”

Sure enough, that was a Stargate address that Claire was pointing to. Jack could have kissed her, except that she was his boyfriend’s mother, and that was just weird. “Teal’c!” Jack shouted, quickly committing the symbols to memory. “We’re going!” The words had barely left his mouth before he was out of the room like a flash.

As soon as he left the room, Jack remembered that he didn’t have a clue where they were. This temple was _that_ confusing. “Damn it! _Mrs. Jackson!”_ he hollered.

Teal’c and Claire hurried from the chamber, the gaggle of geeks behind them. Claire immediately took the lead, running faster than a woman of her age ought to be able to. Despite the speed, the trip back seemed to take even longer than the trip there. Jack just kept viewing the Gate address in his mind, determined to punch it into the DHD faster than any being in this galaxy had ever dialed a Stargate.

After several long minutes, the group reached the room SG-1 had found them in. “Carter,” Jack said into his radio, “we’ve got an address. Where’s the Gate from the main room?”

“It’s two chambers south of the Ring Room,” Carter answered, and Jack was already sprinting again, Teal’c and Claire close behind him. Sure enough, he found Carter not far from the Ring Room, hastily reassembling the DHD.

“Just give me a few minutes, sir,” she panted, throwing parts together.

“He said you’d come,” Claire said quietly, and Jack turned to look at her. “I didn’t believe him.”

“Of course we came,” Jack told her. “We don’t leave one of our own behind.”

Claire shook her head. “No, Jack,” she explained, “he said _you’d_ come.”

Jack could tell from the way she was looking at him— _she knew._ Either she’d figured it out or Daniel had told her, but she knew how important Daniel was to Jack, and Jack to Daniel. Jack slowly put a hand on Claire’s shoulder. “We’re gonna find him,” he promised, and for the first time since he had put Daniel’s body in the ground, he actually believed it.

“We’re good to go!” Carter called, standing in front of the DHD.

“Finally,” Claire muttered, stepping forward.

“Hey!” Jack threw an arm out in front of Claire to stop her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“With you,” Claire answered. “Where do you think?”

“No.” Jack shook his head. “No. There is no way in hell—”

Claire fixed him with a look, and the rest of Jack’s sentence died in his throat. Those familiar blue eyes were glaring at him, a perfect mixture of Daniel’s stubbornness and the determination of a mother whose child was in danger. There was no force in the universe that could stop this woman from going through the Gate with them.

“Carter,” Jack said, keeping his eyes on Claire, “where’s the zat you took from that guard?”

Without a word, Carter handed it to him, and Jack presented it to Claire. “This is a zat,” he said quickly. “Opens like this, fires like that. One shot stuns, two shots kills, three shots disintegrates. Got it?”

Claire nodded, taking the weapon with shaking hands. “Stay behind me and don’t shoot anything unless you have to. Got it?” Claire nodded again, determination behind the fear in her eyes. “I mean that,” Jack insisted. “You stay behind me.”

“I will,” Claire promised. “Unless you’re in my way.”

Jack sighed. “You are definitely Daniel’s mother,” he informed her, and Claire gave the tiniest hint of a smile.

Stepping over to the DHD, Jack made good on his attempt to be the fastest person ever to dial the Stargate. The wormhole blossomed open, and Claire gasped in amazement.

“Jacob,” Jack said into his radio. “Land your ship and ring into the temple. There are some very scared undead geeks here who could use some help. We’re going after Daniel.”

“Got it.”

“Good.” Jack turned to everyone else. “Carter, Teal’c, Mrs. Jackson,” he said, “let’s bring our boy home.”

And putting an arm around Claire’s back to escort her, Jack led his team through the Stargate, knowing that at long last, the toss and turn of the wormhole would finally lead him to Daniel.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hecate finally finds the super weapon she has been searching for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure how much Ancient Daniel would know by the end of season 4, so I was improvising a little. Be gentle on that part.

The first thing Daniel became aware of when he exited the Stargate was Melburn gasping in awe. He couldn’t help but smile. You never forgot your first trip through the Gate—he only wished his father could have experienced it under less dire circumstances.

Hecate and her First Prime were already scanning their surroundings, and Daniel quickly did the same, doing his best to ignore his still throbbing head. It was a beautiful, sunny day, wherever they were, with grass swaying in the breeze and a few trees scattered about. On one side, a slightly imposing looking mountain stretched high above him; on his other side, Daniel could see down into a large valley, with a handful of small villages off in the distance. _Please tell me she’s not taking us down there…_

“Well?” Hecate said, turning to Melburn. “Where is it?”

Melburn was gaping at the world around him, apparently still trying to take in the fact that he had just been transported to another planet. Receiving no answer, Hecate marched over to him and grabbed a handful of his hair. Daniel tensed, ready to fight free of his captors’ hold if he needed to.

Hecate leaned right into Melburn’s face. “I _said_ , where is it?”

“I don’t know,” Melburn answered, wincing at her tight grip. “All I had was the address.”

Hecate bent in even closer to him, tilting his head back a little. “Are you telling me that we have to search this entire planet?”

“I don’t know,” Melburn repeated, but Hecate wasn’t buying it.

“Tell me what you read in the temple about this weapon,” she ordered. “Everything.”

“I already have,” Melburn protested. “There was the address, and a short description of what the Feat was. Nothing else!”

“There must have been something,” Hecate growled, and her eyes flashed. Melburn was clearly terrified, but managed to keep himself under control. Daniel was impressed. “The Ancients would not have led us to this planet and then abandoned us by the Gate,” Hecate continued. “There was something else written there. What?”

“Nothing!” Melburn insisted, and Hecate abruptly released his hair. _Oh God,_ Daniel thought as she turned towards him, already getting her ribbon device ready.

She didn’t even make it three steps. “Wait!” Hecate smiled as she came to a stop, waiting.

_“Dad,”_ Daniel hissed. “Don’t.”

Melburn and Hecate both ignored him. “There was something about a cave that’s housed the Feat for centuries,” Melburn said. “That’s all there was. Please.”

Thankfully, Hecate seemed to believe it this time. “Then we go towards the mountain,” she commanded. “Come!”

Hecate and the First Prime took the lead, setting out across the grass. Daniel and Melburn were dragged after them. After a few minutes, Hecate allowed the guards to release the captives and let them walk on their own. Surrounded by a circle of Jaffa, Daniel knew better than to try and talk to his father, but let their shoulders rub together as they went, a quiet reassurance for both of them.

The mountain was farther away than it seemed. The grassy soil became more and more rocky, and eventually was more dirt than anything else. They reached the base after an hour, where stone walls protruded almost directly upwards. Hecate began leading them around the edge, apparently in search of a cave. Daniel dimly wondered if she planned on circling the entire mountain, and if she had a plan for spending the night. He almost opened his mouth to ask sarcastically, as he knew Jack would do, but with Melburn right beside him, he didn’t dare, and kept his thoughts to himself.

However, he ultimately didn’t have to worry about what would happen if they were out here for a long time—almost an hour after they reached the base of the mountain, the group approached a small cave mouth. Hecate came to a stop, signaling to everyone behind her to do the same. Melburn was panting beside Daniel, not used to walking for so long, and Daniel pressed up close to him.

“Go,” Hecate ordered her First Prime, who immediately strolled into the cave, his staff weapon ready. He had been gone only moments before he emerged, signaling that it was safe to enter. Daniel felt one of the Jaffa shove his back, and against his better judgment, followed Hecate in.

It wasn’t a very large cave, simply a ten foot wide room that extended back for perhaps forty. In fact, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy about it—besides the metal device with two Ancient looking consoles beside it. It fittingly resembled a giant coffin, with writing etched along the sides. Dread filled Daniel as he saw it. This must be the Feat of the Ancients.

Hecate was beside herself. “This is it…” she whispered. “At long last.” She strolled forward, running a hand possessively, almost lovingly, along the device. Daniel couldn’t help but flinch a little bit, hoping that she wouldn’t accidentally turn something on.

The Goa’uld noticed his discomfort. “What is the matter, Doctor Jackson?” she glowered. “Are you not pleased to have helped make such a discovery?”

“Not when it’s helping someone like you,” Daniel answered, and Hecate chuckled.

“And you, Doctor Jackson,” Hecate continued, looking at Melburn this time, clearly reveling in the fact that she had both father and son in her clutches, “you have been the most helpful of all. I thank you.” Melburn didn’t bother to answer, merely clenched his fists. “Unfortunately, your usefulness as a translator has come to an end. I now require an expert in Ancient.”

She motioned to the Jaffa behind Daniel, who shoved him in the back. Daniel barely managed to catch himself before he stumbled straight into the device. “Read it,” Hecate ordered.

“I can’t,” Daniel replied immediately. Hecate raised a hand, revealing the ribbon device, and Daniel insisted, “No, really, I can’t read it.”

Hecate looked thoughtfully at her hand. “Torturing you assured your father’s assistance. I wonder if the reverse is also true.” She took a step towards Melburn.

“I can’t read Ancient!” Daniel protested. “I can’t. I’ve only seen the language written a handful of times. I swear to God, I can’t read it.”

Hecate pointed at the device. “Then learn it.”

“I can’t possibly—”

“Your father will assist you,” Hecate told him, and Melburn was shoved over to his side. “If you have nothing useful to tell me in an hour, I will kill him. Do you understand?”

Daniel had been hedging a bit—while he was nowhere near an expert, but his time translating for Jack when the Ancient repository had been downloaded into head had taught him a lot. He knew that he could figure out the gist of what was written, even if the complexities of the language escaped him. Still, there was no way in hell Daniel could hope to have solved everything in an hour, even if Melburn helped him. But he knew Hecate would be true to her word. He nodded.

“Excellent.” Hecate smiled, then motioned to her First Prime to accompany her. “Watch them,” she ordered the other Jaffa. “If they are not working, shoot them.”

“Yes, my Lord,” the four Jaffa replied. Hecate and the First Prime left, presumably to explore their surroundings.

Melburn stepped close to Daniel. “Can you really not read this?” he asked softly.

“Not well,” was all Daniel was willing to say while the Jaffa were listening.

Melburn sighed. “How can I help?”

“Ancient is similar to Latin…” Daniel began pointing out the symbols he knew, so that Melburn could at least get some sense of an alphabet. “It’ll be slow, but we might be able to get the basics, at least.”

“Let’s hope so,” Melburn agreed.

They worked in silence. Daniel was extremely aware of the Jaffa watching them, observing their every movements for an opportunity to shoot them. Determined not to give them one, Daniel just read, slowly, wishing for his notebook back to write his translations down. Instead, he just committed as much as he could to memory.

He began on the actual device, but quickly realized that he needed more context, as the writings were mere labels. With that figured out, Daniel instead moved to the nearest console, relieved when it activated. One of the Jaffa shouted when the light turned on, and Daniel quickly stepped back, his hands raised.

“This is the only way to solve this,” he explained. “I can’t translate any of this without it. I’m not going to turn it on.” _At least, I hope not…_

The Jaffa hesitated, then motioned that Daniel could continue. “Thank you,” Daniel muttered, resuming his work. Seeing what Daniel had done, Melburn activated the other console. “Don’t touch anything unless you’re sure what it says,” Daniel warned him. “We don’t want to set this thing off by accident.” He got a grunt of acknowledgement.

Daniel quickly realized why Melburn had been so determined to keep this weapon’s location hidden for a year. The description of the damage this Feat of the Ancients could inflict was mind-boggling. To destroy a planet while leaving the solar system radioactively devastated for centuries…? The more Daniel read, the more he knew that Hecate absolutely could not be allowed to control this.

By the time an hour had passed, Daniel had also learned another key piece of information, one that relieved him greatly. If he played his cards right, he might be able to convince Hecate not to use the weapon, at least not immediately. “Getting anything, Dad?” he asked.

“A little. It’s slow, and I think I’m in a little over my head technically, but I can understand most of it. I just have no idea how useful any of it is.”

Daniel smiled. His father had picked up a literal alien language in under an hour. _He’s still got it._

Hecate and her First Prime re-entered the cave, and Daniel immediately tensed. “What have you found?” she asked, stepping up to her captives.

“What do you want to know?” Daniel asked, trying to stall while he figured out exactly what to say.

“I want to know what precisely this weapon does, and how to activate it. And if you have nothing to tell me in this regard, I will kill your father.” As if to prove her point, Hecate took the staff weapon from her First Prime and pointed it at Melburn’s chest. “I ask you again—what have you found?”

Clearly, stalling was not going to work. Daniel took a deep breath and began slowly explaining in a way that would demonstrate that he had done his best while still holding back enough that Hecate could not activate the Feat and blow them all sky high. “As far as I can tell, it’s a sort of glorified bomb. Except far more powerful than any device I’ve ever seen.”

“How much more powerful?” Hecate interrupted.

“I don’t know,” Daniel answered immediately, and opened the end of the staff weapon. “I don’t!” Daniel protested, debating whether he should step in front of his father or not, unsure of how Hecate would react. “I wasn’t lying—I’m not an expert in Ancient.” He hesitated, then added, “Whole planets, I think. I think this can wipe out whole planets.”

That seemed to satisfy Hecate, who closed her weapon again. “There’s something else,” Daniel said, carefully. “If I’m reading this correctly, then…this is a one-time use device.”

Hecate nodded, as though she had expected this. “Then I must find more.”

“That’s the thing…there aren’t any more.”

Fury began to blaze in Hecate’s eyes. “There must be.”

“No,” Daniel confirmed. “Even the Ancients knew that this was too powerful. From what I can tell, they destroyed all their creations except for this one, whose location they hid in the temple you’ve been searching. That was the true feat,” he couldn’t help but add. “Keeping this a secret for so long.”

“If you are lying to me…” Hecate warned.

“Why would I?” Daniel asked. “Why would I want more of these things out there? One’s bad enough.”

“Then we must disassemble this device,” Hecate decided. “Study it. Learn to build more.”

_What, you’re gonna start kidnapping engineers from Earth, too?_ But Daniel didn’t dare say that aloud in case she actually thought was a good idea. Instead, he decided to try another tactic.

“You can’t,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice level. “It’s rigged to explode if you open the casing. The Ancients were determined that this would be the last.”

Hecate narrowed her eyes as though sensing his deception. Poker was never his best game, but Jack had taught Daniel a thing or two about bluffing. Daniel met her gaze, letting his fear show, but not a hint of doubt in his words. After a moment, Hecate sighed. “After all this work,” she muttered, “all I receive is a single shot.”

“My Lord,” the First Prime spoke up, “fired at the correct target, a single shot can be devastating.”

“Yes…” Hecate agreed, considering. “Can this device be transported?” she asked Daniel.

“I have no idea,” Daniel answered honestly.

“Surely it can,” she stated. “The Ancients would not have been so careless to design a weapon that cannot be moved.” She pondered for a moment longer, then smiled. “Chulak,” she said quietly, and Daniel gasped.

“You can’t,” he protested, but Hecate continued speaking to herself as though she had not heard him.

“At the correct time, most of Apophis’s forces will be home on Chulak. A strike there will cripple him and allow me to step in quickly to assume his place.”

“There are thousands of people on Chulak!” Daniel almost yelled. “You can’t wipe out the entire planet!”

Hecate gave a low chuckle, stepping closer to Daniel and Melburn. “I can,” she said softly, “and I will. There is only the question of when. Now, tell me…” She took yet another step closer, still leaving several feet between her and her captives. “How do I activate this weapon?”

He couldn’t tell her. Daniel had seen that almost straight away—a simple series of commands into the console Melburn had been working at. But there was no way. His life and his father’s life versus the lives of the thousands of people on Chulak. There was no contest.

“No,” Daniel said firmly. “I won’t tell you.”

Hecate opened the staff weapon again, training it firmly on Melburn’s chest. “Don’t bother,” Daniel told her, though saying it out loud was almost physically painful. “It doesn’t matter what you do to us. We won’t tell you anything.” He exchanged a glance with his father, and thankfully, that was all he needed to see that they were on the same page. They would both die before telling her anything else.

“I do not need either of you to answer this,” Hecate said. “If you will not tell me what I need to know, I will simply bring someone else from the temple to replace you, or bring another expert from Earth. Your friend from the Tau’ri for example. What is her name again…Carter? I am sure she would be able to help me.”

“Able? Yes. Willing? No. She’ll die before she’ll help you.” But Hecate had a point. Eventually, someone would be able to help her activate this weapon, and when that time came, thousands would die, if not millions by the time Hecate was done taking on Apophis. They were fucked no matter what happened.

_Well, it’s not going to be us,_ Daniel decided. _We’re not going to tell her._

“This is your final chance,” Hecate said. “If you do not tell me how to activate this weapon, I will kill you.”

Daniel looked at Melburn again, who gave him a tiny nod. Pride filled Daniel’s heart, and he looked back at his captor with a final glare. “Then kill us.”

Hecate glared at him for a moment longer, then relaxed. “Very well.” She took a final aim at Daniel’s chest. Daniel felt his father take his hand, and squeezed back as hard as he could, only the slight trembling of their clenched fingers revealing how terrified the Jacksons truly were.

_I’m sorry, Jack,_ Daniel thought. _But there was no other choice…I think you’d be proud of me. Goodbye._ He closed his eyes and waited for inevitable.

“Goodbye, Doctor Jackson,” Hecate said, and the sound of gunfire filled the room.

Daniel flinched back, away from the sound…but nothing ever impacted. He was perfectly fine.

_Wait a second._

Not a staff weapon blast.

_P-90 gunfire._

Daniel cracked his eyes open in confusion, then fully open as he registered the sight he’d been dreaming of since he had awoken in Hecate’s temple—Jack O’Neill swooping in to save his ass. Sam and Teal’c stood on either side of him, and Claire peeked out from behind his shoulder, clutching a zat and looking more determined than Daniel had ever seen her. Hecate and her Jaffa were on the floor, dead; SG-1 had taken them all out. It was over.

“Jack…?” he breathed, hardly believing his eyes.

For a moment, Jack just stared at Daniel like he was the only thing in the room. Then, almost before Daniel could take in that Jack was moving, he had crossed the room and gathered him into his arms, holding onto him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

“Daniel,” Jack choked out, and if Daniel didn’t know better, he would say that the other man was holding back tears. Daniel wrapped himself around Jack in return, utterly relieved to finally see him again. With a harsh sobbing sound, Jack slotted his face into the spot where Daniel’s neck met his shoulder and simply breathed.

“Jack…” Daniel breathed, confused by the other man’s reaction until he remembered what Hecate had told him when he had first arrived—Jack had thought he was dead. “I’m okay,” he whispered, running a hand up and down Jack’s back. “I’m okay. You found me in time. I’m okay.” He felt Jack nod a little bit into his neck and kept rubbing his back. He didn’t want to demonstrate much more affection while Sam and Teal’c were watching, but part of him wanted to damn the consequences and just lay one on him, a massive kiss, right there in the cave. Judging from the way Jack was clinging to him, he probably felt the same. They settled for just holding each other, with a promise of much more to come later.

Meanwhile, Claire ran over to her husband and threw her arms around him. Sam took a step closer, clearly wanting to see Daniel but not wanting to interrupt her commander’s moment. “Jack,” Daniel said into Jack’s ear, trying to tell him gently to let go. “Jack!”

It took Jack a moment longer to get control of himself, but he eventually managed to pull away from Daniel. He tried to cover his previous geyser of emotion by giving Daniel’s hair a quick ruffle, and Daniel smiled before Sam suddenly pulled him into her arms. “It’s good to see you, Daniel,” she said.

“You, too, Sam,” Daniel replied.

Sam released him, and to everyone’s surprise, Teal’c went in for a hug as well. “I am pleased to see you alive, Daniel Jackson,” he rumbled as he held Daniel against his chest.

“Thanks, Teal’c.”

Daniel turned away from Teal’c to see his parents, who had an arm around each other’s shoulders, watching their son. Grinning, Daniel walked over to them. “I told you they’d come,” he whispered, before all three embraced at once. “It’s all gonna be okay…” Daniel murmured. “We’re safe now. We can go home. We can go home.”

Claire was crying, holding onto her husband and son, and Daniel let her have a moment before pulling away, taking their hands, and leading them over to his friends.

“Guys,” he began, “these…are my parents.”

He wished he could go back in time and speak to his eight year old self. _It’s okay,_ he would say. _Your parents are gone now, but you’ll find them again, and one day you’ll be standing on an alien planet introducing them to your best friends._ It boggled his mind.

“Danny’s told us a lot about you,” Melburn said quietly, referring to everyone but looking directly at Jack.

“Danny?” Jack asked, casually putting an arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “Is _that_ why you hate people calling you that?”

“You don’t like it?” Claire turned to her son, looking slightly alarmed. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“No! It…it reminded me too much of you,” Daniel admitted. “So I asked people to stop.” He smiled. “I don’t really mind anymore.”

Claire relaxed again, and returned her attention to the rest of SG-1. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “For everything. For looking after Danny for us.”

“Of course, Mrs. Jackson,” Jack said.

Claire narrowed her eyes in mock disapproval. “That’s Doctor Jackson to you, sonny.” Jack looked genuinely horrified for a moment, and suddenly everyone in the cave erupted into laughter.

“I like her,” Jack told Daniel.

“Oh, you should have seen her spit in Hecate’s face.”

“She _what?”_ Jack beamed at Claire with pride. Even Teal’c looked impressed.

“Spit right in her face. It was amazing.”

Jack just kept smiling, slowly running his hand along Daniel’s upper arm. He seemed unable to stop touching, which Daniel didn’t mind. Melburn noticed, and gave both men a smile—he seemed to approve. He then stepped away from the group to examine the device once more.

“Dad?” Daniel asked.

“Just making sure it’s gonna stay off,” Melburn said.

“I thought you could barely understand what it said.”

Melburn smiled. “That’s what I wanted Hecate to think. It really is very similar to Latin.” Still smiling, he began to work his way through the console, double checking everything.

“He’s good,” Daniel said quietly, and Jack chuckled.

“He’s your dad,” Jack reminded him. “Which, by the way—wow. Did not see that one coming.”

Daniel just nodded. “Yeah.”

“So, _Doctor_ Jackson.” Jack looked to Claire, putting an unnecessary emphasis on Doctor, which made her smile. “When we get back to Earth, I think you have some embarrassing stories of Danny’s childhood that I would very much like to hear.”

“Oh God,” Daniel muttered as Claire gave an almost evil smile. Sam laughed.

“I’m sure you have some stories that Danny neglected to tell us, as well,” Claire replied, and Daniel discovered that a good portion of him wanted to melt into the floor. It had never occurred to him that Jack and his mother would immediately team up against him.

“Oh, yes,” Jack agreed. “You know he became a caveman one time?”

“What!?”

“Hey! So did you!” Daniel nudged Jack in the ribs, smiling.

“I am definitely going to need to hear the rest of this,” Claire decided.

“All the mission reports. They’re yours,” Jack assured her.

“You should be proud of your son,” Sam told Claire. “You know he was the one who got the Stargate to work for us? He’s the reason we’re all here.”

Claire was practically glowing. “I just knew. All these years, I knew you were back on Earth doing something extraordinary.”

“Bet you never imagined I was exploring space.”

“No, that one never crossed my mind.”

“Speaking of exploring space…” Daniel looked at Jack. “I’ve seen enough of this place. When are we going back to Earth?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Jack told him. “We’ve just got to head back to the temple to pick up Jacob and everyone else.”

“Jacob’s here?”

“He helped us track you here in a _tel’tak_ ,” Sam explained.

Smiling, Daniel turned to his mother and put a hand on her shoulder. “You ready to go home, Mom?” he asked gently, and Claire nodded. “How about you, Dad?” Daniel continued, glancing back to Melburn. “You ready to go home?”

Melburn didn’t answer. “Dad?” Daniel asked. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Melburn said quietly, and slowly turned to face them, his hand hovering over the console. Daniel immediately noticed the command on the screen.

“Dad, what are you doing!?” he gasped.

Melburn smiled, a cruel smile that Daniel had never seen him make before. “Making sure you never see home again,” he answered in an unnaturally deep voice, his eyes flashing gold.

And as Daniel watched in disbelieving horror, Melburn lowered his hand to the console, and the Feat of the Ancients powered on.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

Jack immediately swung his P-90 towards Melburn’s chest, only to have Daniel frantically grab at his arm. _Fuck._ This must be like Sha’re all over again…

The weapon was making a low humming noise, and lights were flashing around the edge. Jack winced. This thing was gonna blow, and it would be bigger than any explosion he had ever seen.

Melburn—or rather, the Goa’uld controlling him—still wore that hideous grin. A quick glance behind him told Jack the whole story—Hecate had dragged herself over to the weapon unseen, and had somehow transferred her symbiote to Melburn while no one was paying attention. The previous host lay dead on the floor by Melburn’s feet.

Jack swore silently at himself. He had been so focused on Daniel that he had never checked to see that Hecate was actually dead. Anything that happened to Melburn because of this was on his shoulders.

“Melburn?” Claire asked, bewildered.

“It’s not him,” Daniel told her in a shaking voice. “It’s Hecate.”

“What!?”

“O’Neill,” Teal’c spoke quietly into Jack’s ear. “She is weak. I believe that she is dying.”

Jack had already noticed that—Melburn was leaning heavily against the console, his whole body trembling slightly. He looked about ready to collapse, and Jack had no idea if that was a blessing or a curse.

“Get out of him,” Jack ordered, keeping his aim steady despite Daniel’s hand on his arm.

Melburn’s eyes glowed again, and Jack wondered if Hecate was putting on a show to conceal how weak she truly was. That, or Melburn was fighting her and she was struggling to maintain control. Probably both. “I cannot,” Hecate answered through Melburn’s mouth.

“You’re dying,” Daniel pleaded, and Jack’s heart went out to him. He sounded so desperate. “There’s no reason to do this.”

“There is every reason!” Hecate spat, the ferocity of the response nearly knocking Melburn’s legs out from under him. Jack watched his every movement like a hawk, ready to swoop in and restrain him the moment the opportunity presented itself.

Hecate was clearly on her last limbs. Melburn’s eyes glowed at random intervals and his voice switched between his own and the deep tones of a Goa’uld as Hecate spoke. “I have been searching for this weapon since before and of you drew breath. I have harnessed technologies that you cannot hope to understand. All to finally allow me to claim the power and respect that is mine by right. And you have stolen this chance from me.” She grimaced in pain, slumping against the console. “At least I can take satisfaction in the knowledge that you die with me.”

And with those words, Hecate’s eyes glowed for one last time, and Melburn collapsed to the floor.

Daniel was by his father’s side in an instant. “Dad!” he yelled, frantically shaking him. “Dad!”

Jack crouched beside him, reaching to check Melburn’s pulse. “He’s alive, Daniel. He’s okay. I think Hecate’s dead.”

With a huff of relief, Daniel continued his efforts to wake Melburn, Claire doing the same on her husband’s other side. Jack glanced back to Carter, who was already navigating through the console. “How much time do we have before this thing blows?” he asked.

“I can’t tell,” Carter said. “I need Daniel.”

“Go,” Jack ordered Daniel. When the archaeologist didn’t move, Jack shoved him a little. “Go help Carter!” Daniel turned his terrified blue eyes to him, and Jack laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take care of him,” he promised, and Daniel gave him a shaky nod. “Go help Carter.”

Daniel clambered ungracefully to his feet and hurried over to Carter, pointing out what the various displays meant and what he had already translated. Jack took Daniel’s place by Melburn’s side. “Come on, Doctor Jackson, wake up,” he muttered, checking his pulse again. It was steady, but seemed a little slow.

“Teal’c,” Jack called, and the Jaffa knelt beside him. He spoke quietly, trying not to catch the attention of Claire, who was murmuring to her husband and stroking his hair. “What happens if a Goa’uld dies inside a host body like that?”

“It depends on the Goa’uld,” Teal’c answered softly. “Some leave the host unharmed, as Jolinar spared Major Carter when she was killed. Others leave behind a poison that will kill the host shortly after the symbiote dies.”

“How can you tell if the host is poisoned?”

“I cannot tell for certain at this moment,” Teal’c replied.

Jack nodded. “Don’t tell anyone yet,” he ordered under his breath.

“He’s awake!” Claire gasped, and Jack returned his attention to see that Melburn had, in fact, opened his eyes.

“Is he alright!?” Daniel called from the console, twisting to see.

“I think so,” Claire told him.

“Easy,” Jack said as Melburn tried to sit up. “Come on.” Together, Jack and Claire eased Melburn into a sitting position, leaning back against the cave wall. “Do you remember what happened?” Jack asked.

Melburn nodded, closing his eyes. “It…was her. Inside me.”

Claire was shaking again, gripping her husband’s arm. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she soothed. “She’s gone now. She is, isn’t she?” she appealed to Jack, who nodded.

“She’s dead,” Jack confirmed. “But she still managed to do some damage before she kicked it. Carter, please tell me you can turn this thing off.”

“Sir…”

“ _Carter,_ ” Jack intoned. “What do you have?”

Carter turned to look him in the eyes, and Jack saw the answer there before she even opened her mouth. “This doesn’t have a shut-off, sir. It’s going to explode in a little less than twenty minutes, and it’s going to take this entire planet with it.”

“Sam,” Daniel said tightly, “look at this.” Carter returned her attention to the console as Daniel explained, “I think this is about an energy build-up. And that looks like maximum power.” Carter nodded in agreement. “And I think this changes the rate.”

Carter examined, thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I think you’re right.” Hesitantly, she reached out to the console, then groaned. “There’s a genetic component,” she explained before anyone could ask. “Only the person who activated the device can make changes to the system.”

“So we need my dad?” Daniel asked.

“He needs to scan in on the other console, I think,” Sam explained, and Daniel nodded after taking a look. “Dad, can you stand?”

“I…I think so.”

“We’ve got it,” Jack said, motioning for Teal’c to help him. Melburn had little strength of his own, but between the two of them, they managed to bring him upright. Claire helped place his hand on the second console, and a moment later, Sam gave a little shout of triumph.

“You _were_ right!” She gave Daniel an awkward pat on the back before turning back to Jack. “We’ve just bought some more time, sir. We have just over five hours before this goes critical.”

Five hours. That was more like it. They could do a lot in five hours. Jack started talking through the options out loud as he and Teal’c helped lower the thoroughly exhausted Melburn back to the ground. “So we can’t shut it down,” he began.

“No, sir,” Carter confirmed. “It looks like the Ancients expected you to be committed to using this. It just doesn’t have a shut-down command built in. With this level of power, I’m not sure it’s physically possible to peacefully make it stop.”

Jack considered. “Can we move it? Take it through the Gate to an uninhabited planet?”

“I don’t think so,” Daniel answered. “Not while it’s activated. It looks like it’s connected to these consoles, and it will detonate if it disconnects and it will detonate if it’s moved.” He sighed. “They really wanted you to be sure before you turned it on.”

“And we can’t open it up and try to turn it off that way?”

Melburn spoke up from the floor. “Danny said it would automatically explode if you tried that.”

“Uh, I was making that up, Dad. I just didn’t want her to figure out how it worked so she could make more of these.”

“You were making that up?” Melburn sighed, then suddenly groaned in pain. Daniel’s eyes widened.

“Melburn?” Claire gasped.

“I’m okay,” Melburn told her. “I already feel a little better.” But everyone seemed to know that it was a lie. Daniel exchanged a terrified glance with Jack before starting to work his way through the panel again, searching for anything that he had missed.

“Okay, so we can’t shut it down and we can’t move it,” Jack continued. “What if we just left it here to go off? Is there some way we can protect those villages over by the Gate?”

“Nothing that we can do in five hours, sir,” Carter answered.

“Could we evacuate them?”

Carter looked doubtful. “There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people. They didn’t look like very far along in their development. By the time we convinced them that we’re from another planet, it would already be too late.”

Jack nodded, agreeing, but cursing the situation. All of the options were dwindling away, and he was fresh out of ideas. It was time for Carter or Daniel to come up with something brilliant and save the day…

And right on cue, Daniel spoke up. “There’s a self-destruct,” Daniel said, pointing at the console. “Look.”

Carter turned to him and looked, listening to his hurried translation of the various words on the screen, then groaned. “Look at these power levels. Any sort of internal explosion will be amplified by the power building inside the weapon. It would be just as bad as leaving the weapon on and letting it detonate on its own.”

“Then why was it put there in the first place?” Daniel asked. “Why would you put a self-destruct on a bomb? What’s the point?”

“I don’t know…” Carter thought for a moment, then blinked as it came to her. “Because if you can’t shut it down, you can make it blow early. Before the power levels reach critical. There’s no way to stop all the damage, but you can at least save the planet you’ve left it on.”

“Great,” Jack said. “Set it up and let’s get the hell out of here.”

Carter and Daniel conferred briefly, pointing at various parts of the machine, and they both suddenly went very pale. “One problem, sir,” Carter finally said. “This has been left unattended for too long. The self-destruct countdown has malfunctioned.”

_Shit._ That meant someone would have to…

“Can we use C-4?” Jack asked, and Carter shook her head.

“This is made of some sort of Naquadah alloy, several inches thick,” she explained. “This weapon is meant to be durable. I don’t think what we have on us would do more than dent it.” She shook her head again. “This has to be done from the inside.”

Jack’s mind was racing. There had to be another way. “So the longer we wait,” he confirmed, still turning the problem over in his head, “the larger the explosion will be.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How long before the villages aren’t safe?”

Carter returned her attention to the screen, and Jack could practically hear the mental math working. “It’s hard to say,” she finally answered. “But two hours, three at the most.”

Jack nodded and rose to his feet. “Then you guys need to get to the Stargate,” he ordered, quietly but firmly. “I’ll give you two hours, then I’ll set it off.”

“No.” Daniel left his father’s side to stand right in front of Jack. “No way. No fucking way.”

“Daniel,” Jack started, staring into those scared, blue eyes, “you need to head for the Gate. Now. There’s no other way to do this.”

“There has to be!” Daniel exploded. “There has to be. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself.”

Sighing, Jack put his hands on Daniel’s shoulders. “This is it, Danny.”

“No,” Daniel repeated, shaking his head. “There’s another way. We’re going to find it. We have five more hours. Please.”

“Daniel, if we wait much longer, hundreds of people on this planet are going to die. Now go help your dad, and get everyone to the Gate.”

“I won’t do it!” Daniel insisted.

Jack grabbed Daniel by his collar and pulled him in close. “Damn it, Daniel!” he yelled in his face. “I just spent _weeks_ mourning for you. I carried your body back to the Stargate on P47. I read the eulogy at your funeral. _Twice._ Then I find out some asshole murdered you, and I do everything— _everything_ I can to put that son of a bitch in the ground. We track some signal into the middle of space on the off chance we’ll find the person who killed you—and we find you instead. I’ll be damned before I let you die on me again. _Now get to the damn Gate and let me do this for you!”_

Tears were forming in Daniel’s eyes, and he trembled in Jack’s grip. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t…”

“He’s right, Jack,” Melburn said suddenly. “You can’t.”

Startled, Jack turned his head to Melburn and Claire, still on the floor, watching Jack scream at their son. Self-consciously, Jack relaxed his hold on Daniel’s collar, but the other man didn’t pull away. “What are you talking about?”

Melburn smiled, a grim expression that didn’t reach his eyes. “The genetic component. Remember? I’m the only one who can do anything to this machine.”

_Shit._ He was right. Jack had already forgotten.

“No!” Daniel shouted again. “No way, Dad. There’s another way to stop this. We just have to find it.” He looked pleadingly at Carter for help. “No one has to die.”

But one look at Carter’s face was enough to dash his hopes. “Daniel…” she whispered. “I don’t think there’s another way.”

“He _can’t_ do it!” Daniel was practically hysterical now, almost screaming at his father. “Dad, you can barely stand! How can you _possibly_ expect to do this on your own? No, there’s another way. There’s another way.” He continued talking, babbling as he tried to solve it on his own.

Something else struck Jack as Daniel spoke, and he carefully sidled over to Carter. “This is a two person job,” he whispered, making certain that Daniel couldn’t hear him, “isn’t it? That’s why there are two consoles.”

Carter didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at him, but she gave the tiniest nod.

Claire turned her head to meet Jack’s eyes, and Jack suddenly realized that she had heard him. He stared back, trying to communicate silently how sorry he was, that he would stay with Melburn, that he was willing to do this for them, for SG-1, for Daniel and his family…

Slowly, Claire leaned over her husband, meeting his eyes. Jack didn’t catch what passed between them, but when they turned back to look at him, he recognized the look in his eyes. He had seen it in his own expression, long ago. It was the determined look of a parent willing to do anything to protect their child, anything, even…

Meeting their gaze, Jack gave them a miniscule, almost imperceptible nod. He understood.

Daniel was still doing his panicked ramblings, appealing to everyone in the room for help. Claire made sure Melburn was securely settled against the wall, then slowly rose to her feet. Her solemn face cut Daniel off mid-sentence. Confused and scared, he held still as Claire stepped close to him, pulling his head down to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“Mom…?” he breathed as she ran a loving hand down his face.

Claire smiled, and the look in her eyes spoke of nothing but love and adoration for her only son. Daniel slowly reached a hand up to grab onto hers, and they held still for a moment, just watching each other.

Then Claire stepped back, drew the zat Jack had given her, and fired once.

Daniel dropped like a stone, unconscious immediately. Jack quickly darted forward to catch him before his head impacted the cave floor.

With a long sigh, Claire bent down and removed Daniel’s watch from his wrist. “Two hours from now,” she said quietly. “You need to go.”

Jack opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say, but nothing could possibly make any of this alright. Daniel had been reunited with his parents against all odds, and he was about to lose them again. No words could ever cover this.

Claire approached Carter and wrapped her in a hug; startled, Carter squeezed her in return. “Thank you for everything you do,” Claire whispered, and Sam nodded. She hugged Teal’c as well, and the massive warrior seemed tame as a kitten as he returned the embrace.

“Jack,” Melburn said suddenly.

Teal’c stepped forward and gently took the unconscious Daniel from his arms, and Jack crouched down beside Melburn. “Yes, sir?”

Daniel’s father seemed barely able to stay awake, but he extended a shaking hand. Jack took it firmly in his own. “Take care of my son,” Melburn said, and there was a fire in his eyes that Jack remembered from his own days as a father.

Jack looked over his shoulder to Daniel, supported in Teal’c’s arms. He seemed so peaceful, and Jack dreaded the moment he would wake up and realize what had happened. _He might never forgive me for this,_ Jack suddenly realized, and the thought made his heart freeze. But in the end, it didn’t matter whether or not Daniel would ever look him in the eye again. All that mattered was that Daniel was alive, and safe. And Jack would take care of that kid until his last breath.

Returning his full attention to Melburn, Jack gripped his hand even tighter and whispered, “Always.”

Melburn smiled, and for a moment, it seemed almost normal, someone meeting their lover’s father for the first time. Then Melburn said, “Go,” in a very soft voice, and Jack released his hand, rose to his feet, and led the way out of the cave. Teal’c hefted Daniel up onto his shoulder, and Carter stumbled after them into the afternoon light.

“Sir…” Carter said softly when they were out of earshot. “Are we really doing this?”

Jack turned and met her eyes, letting all of his emotions play through onto his face. That was all the answer Carter needed, and Jack thought he could hear her crying softly as they marched towards the Stargate at top speed.

As he walked, Jack kept glancing back at Daniel, still out cold on Teal’c’s shoulder. _Please, let him wake up after we’re gone,_ Jack begged any god listening. _Don’t make him go through this._ He kept repeating the prayer as he walked, focusing on his own thoughts, desperately trying not to imagine what Claire and Melburn were doing with their final hours…

It seemed to take years, but it was just under two hours later when the Stargate came into view. _Finally._ “Carter,” he said as they approached. “Dial it up.”

As Carter began to dial Hecate’s temple, Daniel began shifting on Teal’c’s shoulder, groaning a little bit. _Oh hell. He’s waking up._

Teal’c bent down to set Daniel on his feet, supporting him with one arm as he opened his eyes. Daniel quickly located Jack, looking bewildered, unsure where he was or why…

Then his eyes widened. He pulled away from Teal’c and started glancing around frantically. He saw the Stargate opening as Carter finished dialing, he saw Teal’c who had just been holding him, he saw Jack…and he didn’t see his parents. The realization hit him like a thunderbolt.

_“No!”_ Daniel yelled, pushing Teal’c aside and running back towards the mountain.

“Daniel!” Jack sprinted after him, quickly overtaking him. He wrapped his arms tightly around Daniel’s chest and held him back. “We have to go!”

Daniel was struggling, putting up a hell of a fight, trying to keep moving forward while fighting off Jack’s grip. _“Let go of me! I have to go back! Let go!”_

Jack held on even tighter. He was probably cutting off Daniel’s circulation, straining his legs as he began to drag Daniel backwards towards the Stargate. “We have to go!” he repeated.

_“Let me go!”_ Daniel screeched, fighting tooth and nail. _“You can’t do this!”_

“Carter, Teal’c, go!” Jack ordered, Daniel still thrashing in his arms. _“Go!”_ he repeated when they hesitated. “I’ve got him!” Teal’c nodded, grabbing Carter’s arm and pulling them both through the wormhole.

“Daniel, listen to me,” Jack said. “It’s too late. We have to go now. It’s going to go off any minute. We’re not safe here.”

_“YOU BASTARD! YOU SON OF A BITCH! LET GO OF ME! MOM! DAD!”_

He fought even harder, and Jack was using every trick he knew to hold on, to keep pulling Daniel towards the Gate, towards safety. “It’s not safe! We need to go!”

_“NO! MOM! DAD! HELP!”_

_“We need to go!”_

Daniel suddenly leaned back against Jack, lifted a foot off the ground, and brought it crashing back into Jack’s knee. It was a good move. Jack grunted in pain and stumbled, his hold loosening for a moment—and that was all Daniel needed to pull free.

_“Daniel, stop!”_

But it was too late. Even as Daniel sprinted towards the mountain, it exploded. There was a massive flash of light, and chunks of stone flew in every direction. It made a thunderous sound, but it was nowhere near loud enough to cover the sound that came from Daniel’s mouth. Somewhere between a screech and a wail, it was a cry of pure anguish, and it was without a doubt the worst sound that Jack had ever heard.

Several large pieces of debris were headed straight for them. _“WE NEED TO GO!”_ Jack pelted over to Daniel, wrapped his arms back around him, and hauled the now unresisting man towards the Stargate. Daniel kept screaming as Jack dragged him up the steps and through the wormhole.

It was the longest trip through the wormhole that Jack had ever taken. They stumbled out into Hecate’s temple, and Daniel collapsed out of Jack’s arms. His screaming had abruptly stopped, and he was on his hands and knees, trembling violently, gasping for breath.

The wormhole closed behind them, and Jack breathed a heavy sigh. “It’s done,” he said quietly. Teal’c nodded solemnly, but Carter just stared at Daniel quivering on the ground.

Jack’s heart had been aching ever since Claire had stunned Daniel, but now it just broke. _This isn’t fair._ Daniel deserved better than this. He deserved to be back on Earth, home and safe. He deserved two parents who loved him and were proud of him. Most of all, he deserved a lover who wouldn’t betray him the way Jack just had. And he had none of those things.

Slowly, Jack bent down to put a comforting hand on Daniel’s back, but Daniel flinched away, slumping fully to the ground and burying his head in his arms. He couldn’t even cry. He just shook. “Daniel…” Jack breathed.

“Jack.” A single tear ran down Carter’s face as Jack turned to her. Shaking her head slightly, Carter simply said, “Don’t.”

And fighting back his own emotions, Jack stumbled out of the room, leaving the love of his life shuddering on the floor behind him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel decides whether or not he can forgive Jack.

Hollow. 

That was the only word Daniel could find to describe himself. Hollow.

He wasn’t sure how long he lay on the ground, shaking and wanting to die. Time didn’t mean anything anymore. His thoughts kept traveling back to the museum where had first lost his parents. It was the same thing all over again—the thunderous noise, his own screams battering his ears, strangers’ hands holding him back…except they hadn’t been strangers’ hands. Not this time.

Jack had known what Claire and Melburn were going to do. He had known, and he had let it happen anyway. He had ordered everyone back to the Stargate and left them to die. He had dragged Daniel away when all that mattered was getting back.

Jack had betrayed him. It was that simple.

Eventually, Daniel became aware of footsteps and someone gently saying his name. Sam. It was Sam.

Crouching down, Sam laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. “It’s time to go, Daniel,” she told him softly.

Daniel slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, taking in Sam’s words but unable to meet her eyes. Sam kept a hand on his shoulder, giving him the time he needed as the rest of Hecate’s former prisoners filed into the room.

They all looked so happy. That was the only thing Daniel could notice. Everyone was thrilled to finally be free of this nightmare, to be going home at long last. Daniel closed his eyes so he couldn’t see the smiles anymore. His parents should be there smiling, too. Not blasted to pieces, buried under a mountain of rubble.

“Are you ready?” Sam asked quietly, and Daniel didn’t answer, just dragged himself to his feet, putting his back to the rest of the room.

As Teal’c dialed the Stargate, Daniel suddenly became hyperaware of Jack approaching. He turned his head—he couldn’t even look at the man right now. He heard a soft pained exhale before Jack walked past him, leading the way through the Gate. Feeling Sam take his hand, Daniel found himself following numbly.

It was a bit of a shock to arrive in the SGC just as he had left it. He didn’t remember it being so loud and bright, though—people milling about, announcements coming through the loudspeaker, his own footsteps clanging on the metal ramp…

“Doctor Jackson!” General Hammond spoke from the base of the ramp, sounding genuinely thrilled. “It’s good to see you.”

Daniel managed a nod, still staring at the floor. He wasn’t up for eye contact any time soon. Hammond seemed to sense that something was wrong and gently ordered him to the infirmary. As Teal’c followed the last group of people through the Gate, Sam led Daniel by the hand out into the corridor.

In the infirmary, Janet was about to give Daniel a hug until Sam pulled her aside and whispered briefly to her. Understanding, Janet returned to Daniel and gently encouraged him to lie down on the nearest bed.

Sam’s hand was back on his shoulder. “I have to go,” she told him gently. “I have to help with everyone else. Will you be okay here?”

Daniel didn’t think he would ever be okay again, but he nodded anyway. Sam lingered for a moment longer, then turned and left.

Janet returned with a stethoscope. “Lift up your shirt?”

She ran him through every basic test. Daniel complied with every request, but never said a word. He didn’t trust his own voice. Janet didn’t press, just kept checking him over with an expert eye.

As she finished, people began shuffling into the infirmary, apparently to receive their own checkup after their captivity. Someone approached Daniel’s bed as Janet had her back turned to jot down some notes.

“Daniel,” a voice began, and it took a moment to recognize it—Brooks. The man who had turned Melburn in to Hecate. “I just heard. I’m so sorry. I never meant—”

For the first time since the mountain had exploded, Daniel lifted his head to look someone in the eyes, certain that the blank horrified anger in them would stop Brooks stopped mid-sentence. It did. The man looked almost terrified.

His voice shaking, Daniel just let the words fall out. “You’re an idiot. And you’re a coward. And I never want to see you again.”

Janet turned sharply, surprised to hear Daniel speak. Brooks gaped at Daniel for a moment longer, then closed his mouth and walked away. Daniel got his wish—he never saw him again.

“Can I go?” Daniel mumbled at Janet, who sighed.

“Yes. Go find some empty quarters and sleep. I’ll check on you in a little while.”

Daniel nodded, sliding off the bed, and headed for the door. He was only a few steps away when Jack rounded the corner, coming to a stop when he saw Daniel. _I can’t do this,_ Daniel realized, and without a word, he pushed straight past Jack and out into the corridor, never even acknowledging the other man’s presence.

He found himself in an empty guest room a few minutes later, and sank onto the bed. Physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, he simply lay there, feeling himself shaking, staring at the wall for hours until sleep finally claimed him.

* * *

 

Three days passed, and if someone asked Daniel what he had done during that time, he would have had no answer. He had vague memories of driving himself home to his cold apartment, sitting in his office translating something or other, being pulled into the commissary by Teal’c and Sam to make sure that he ate, but he spent most of his time in a gloomy haze, which the entire SGC noticed. Most of the airmen in the halls went out of their way to avoid him. The only people Daniel saw regularly were Teal’c, Sam, Janet, Hammond…and Jack.

Jack. The man was a constant presence that Daniel couldn’t avoid. He was always across the table in the briefing room, or a few chairs down in the commissary. He hadn’t tried to speak to Daniel since they had arrived back on Earth, but Daniel knew that he was watching. Part of him wanted to scream at Jack to go away and leave him alone, but that would require looking at him.

And God, Daniel could not bring himself to look at him. He didn’t think he could stand the sight of those eyes watching him, pitying him, trying to win him back after what he had done. And he didn’t want Jack to see straight through his false control to the emotional turbulence underneath.

Instead, Daniel buried himself in work. SG-11 had returned to Hecate’s temple and was constantly sending back images. Daniel translated, day and night, every language that he knew, taking copious notes, determined to get through as much of the temple as a single human being possibly could. His notebook and coffee mug were his constant companions.

It was late evening when Teal’c stopped by to see if he needed anything before he began to _kelno’reem_. Daniel shook his head, too engrossed in his work to even think about stopping, and Teal’c bade him goodnight. He had only been gone minutes when Daniel suddenly became aware of someone standing in the doorway. _Fuck._ It was Jack.

 _Go away,_ was all he could think. He stared determinedly at the photos on his desk, continuing to write despite the heavy presence that now filled the room.

“Daniel,” Jack began, and Daniel ignored him.

“Daniel, we need to talk.” No response. Daniel just kept on writing, only half-aware that he was repeating a section over.

“Daniel,” Jack tried one last time. “Please look at me,” he whispered. Daniel tightened his grip around his pencil, nearly snapping it in two, and kept his gaze firmly on the desk. Jack sighed, a low, sad noise, then left as quietly as he had come.

The moment he was gone, Daniel set his pencil down and buried his face in his hands, drawing in shaking breaths. It was over. He could never trust Jack again, not after this. Why couldn’t the man _see_ that? Why couldn’t he just leave him alone?

It must have been over an hour later when Sam popped her head into the office. “Daniel?” Then, after one look at her friend, she immediately stepped inside, closed the door, and approached the desk. “What do you need?” she asked softly, and Daniel shook his head. _I need my parents,_ was what he wanted to say, but Sam couldn’t do anything about that.

“Water?” he croaked instead, and Sam quickly found him a water bottle from the mini-fridge. He took a sip, more out of needing to do something than out of thirst. Sam pulled up a chair beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Sighing, he reached a hand up to hold onto hers, taking in the silent comfort.

“Jack came to see you, didn’t he?” Sam asked, and Daniel gave her a small nod. She sighed. “I told him not to. I said you weren’t ready. I’m sorry.”

Daniel just shook his head. “I can’t…” He was having trouble forming the words, and Sam waited patiently for him to finish. “I can’t…do this. Sam…I can’t do this. He…he…”

When it became clear that he wasn’t able to articulate what he felt, Sam took a deep breath, clearly choosing her next words carefully. “He told us,” she said softly. “On the _tel’tak._ He told us about you and him.”

 _Told them…?_ _Told them…_

“Oh,” Daniel said, tensing a little, and Sam let her thumb run over the back of his hand.

“It’s okay,” Sam consoled. “We don’t mind. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly surprised. You two have always been the closest out of all of us.”

“Not anymore,” Daniel stated, slightly stunned to be casually discussing his romantic life with Sam at long last. “Not…not after…”

“Daniel…” Sam hesitated, then carefully spoke her mind, “I think you need to talk to him.”

“No,” Daniel immediately replied. “I can’t...I can’t.”

“He cares about you,” Sam said simply. “A lot.”

“Then how could he…?” Daniel couldn’t even bring himself to say it out loud.

“You didn’t see him when he thought you were gone, Daniel,” Sam continued. “He wasn’t…” she trailed off, considering. “He wasn’t okay.”

Lowering his head, Daniel took a deep breath. He hadn’t thought about Jack trying to handle the fact that he was dead. It must have been awful—the first time this had happened, Jack had attacked Hammond’s car with a hockey stick. What had he done this time? Daniel felt an unexpected pang of sympathy shoot through him, and he didn’t know whether to accept or bury it.

“You need to talk to him,” Sam repeated. “I’m not saying you need to get back together with him, or even forgive him, but…you both need to talk. Soon.”

“I know,” Daniel admitted quietly. “But…I…” _God, I need him…_

Sam leaned in close and wrapped Daniel in a full embrace. A tear threatened to escape from his eye at the simple love reflected in the gesture, but he quickly blinked it back. He’d be damned if he was about to start crying now. Still, he let himself bury his face into her shoulder as he fought to contain his emotions.

“I can’t begin to imagine how you must feel,” Sam whispered, and Daniel’s breathing hitched for a moment, “but I know it’s killing you. And it’s killing Jack, too. You both need to talk about this.”

“How am I supposed to talk to him?” Daniel whispered, unable to even put a full voice behind the question. “I can’t even look at him.”

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted. “God, I don’t know.”

They sat there hugging for several more minutes. It was exactly what Daniel needed—whatever happened, he knew that Sam would be there for him. Teal’c, too. If he could only be so sure about Jack…

“Thank you,” Daniel murmured into her shoulder. Sam didn’t answer, simply pressed a small kiss against his temple, which nearly set Daniel crying all over again.

“Do you want me to take you home?” Sam asked, and Daniel shook his head as he pulled away. He felt like a pot of water about to boil over the top, and he really didn’t want that to happen in front of anyone.

“No. No, I’ve got it. And I don’t think I’m going to my apartment.”

Sam gave him a questioning look, but didn’t ask. Daniel grabbed his coat and keys, and made his way over the parking lot. Pure muscle memory drove him to Jack’s house, and when he suddenly found himself parked in Jack’s driveway, he balked for a moment. What the fuck was he going to say?

Then he steeled himself. He was here. This conversation would happen at some point, and he might as well just get it over with. He just hoped he could keep his emotions in check long enough to say what needed to be said without blubbering all over the place.

With a long sigh, Daniel dug out his keys to Jack’s house and set out for the front door. The next few minutes were going to be awful.

* * *

 

Jack lay on his side in bed, staring at the blank wall. It had been three days, and Daniel still hadn’t acknowledged him in any way. Wouldn’t speak to him, wouldn’t touch him, wouldn’t even look at him.

After spending weeks in that horrible limbo of not being sure whether Daniel was alive or dead, finally seeing him again in that cave was nothing short of a miracle. Meeting his long-dead parents? That was something else entirely.

But once again, the universe had proven that it hated Daniel Jackson, and hours later, he was an orphan once more. What’s worse, Jack had played a hand in it.

_He’s never going to forgive you. You’re never going to hold him again._

_He’s alive,_ Jack protested. _He’s alive, and he’s safe._ That had to count for something, right?

But however much Jack tried to justify it, it wasn’t enough. More than anything, he wanted to have Daniel in his arms, and there was a very real possibility that it would never happen again…

His dark thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys in his front door. _What the hell…?_ Before he could move to investigate, footsteps came down the hall, and his bedroom door creaked open.

Jack lifted his head to see who it was, and his heart gave a jump. Daniel stood framed in the doorway for several long moments, apparently considering. In the darkness of the room, Jack could only just see his face, but it was enough to see his bottom lip quivering.

“Daniel…?” Jack breathed, and suddenly, the other man was across the room, crawling onto the mattress and burying his face in Jack’s chest, exploding into tears. He didn’t even bother to get under the covers; he simply ignored the comforter separating their lower bodies, grabbed onto Jack’s shirt, and sobbed. All of the emotions that he had been fighting back for days spilled out in a puddle over Jack’s heart.

Immediately, Jack circled his arms tightly around him, cradling the shaking man against his chest. “I’m so sorry…” he whispered. “God, Daniel, I am _so sorry_ …”

He let his own tears fall then, lowering his face to press into the top of Daniel’s head, wrapping himself completely around the other man. Daniel’s sobs were coming so violently that he couldn’t speak. He simply clung to Jack’s shirt, trembling and gasping and crying all at once.

Jack wasn’t sure how long they lay there, crying together in the darkness, but it must have been at least an hour before Daniel’s cries began to die down. Eventually, there was only shuddering breathing. Jack kept holding onto Daniel, giving him the time he needed to gather himself.

Finally, Daniel spoke, a quiet, broken sound muffled against Jack’s chest. “They were my parents,” he said, in a voice so small that Jack immediately thought of the eight-year-old boy unexpectedly orphaned during a routine trip to the museum.

“I know,” Jack murmured into his hair. “I know.”

Silence fell for several more minutes, broken only by the sound of their breathing. “How could you do that to me?” Daniel finally asked, and Jack couldn’t help but cringe a little. He sounded so hurt.

“There wasn’t another way,” Jack answered, painfully aware of how cliché and pathetic it sounded.

“We had five more hours,” Daniel protested, but there was no fight in his voice, just sorrowful resignation. “We could have found something.”

“It was their choice,” Jack said. “They did it for you. They were protecting you.” A shiver ran down Daniel’s spine at those words, and Jack held onto him even more tightly. “They were good parents, Danny…” he breathed, right into Daniel’s ear.

Again, they fell silent, just clinging to each other in the darkness, until Daniel spoke again. “I just got them back,” he whispered, in a voice so quiet that Jack almost didn’t hear him. “It’s not fair.”

“No,” Jack replied, just as softly. “It’s not.” Then, knowing that the ultimate verdict would come soon, he simply held Daniel in his arms and waited.

Daniel pulled his face away from Jack’s chest and turned his head, laying his cheek alongside Jack’s ribs and staring at the ceiling fan, deep in troubled thought for several more minutes. “I don’t know if I can forgive you,” he finally said, still looking at the ceiling, “but…I miss you.”

Jack could work with that. It wasn’t perfect, but it was hope—a hope that someday, things between him and Daniel might be okay.

Slowly, Jack shifted his head to plant a soft kiss into Daniel’s hair. “I missed you,” he whispered. “So much…”

_And I don’t know if I can forgive myself, either._

With a long sigh, Daniel burrowed into Jack’s chest as though he intended to stay for a while, which was fine by Jack. Except…this wasn’t very comfortable. Daniel still had his glasses on, for one thing.

Tentatively, Jack reached down a hand to take them, pausing for a moment until Daniel nodded that it was okay. Jack slipped them off of his face, folded them one-handed, and stretched away to place them on the bedside table. Before he returned to Daniel, he took the comforter in one hand, worked it out from between their legs, and draped it over both of them.

The second he finished, Daniel was back against his chest, softly crying again. Without a word, Jack took him in his arms once more, letting a hand rub up and down his back and gently stroking his hair.

Daniel’s breathing slowly returned to normal, but he didn’t sleep. Neither of them did. They just lay there in silence, wrapped around each other, breathing as one, feeling each other’s heartbeats, listening the clock tick in the background.

Ten minutes later, Jack was startled when Daniel suddenly moved, pulling himself up the bed to draw level with Jack’s face. His eyes still closed, Daniel leaned in and found his mouth, starting a tender but still passionate kiss. Immediately, Jack responded, raising a hand to caress Daniel’s face as he returned the gesture. After several long seconds, Daniel pulled away, resting his head on Jack’s pillow. He took in three slow, deep breaths, then carefully opened his eyes.

Jack gasped. It was the first time Daniel had truly looked at him since their argument in the cave, and it was like reading an open book. Jack saw all of the pain, sorrow, and anger there. The rest of the time, Daniel would try to hide it, under a forced calm, but not here. Somehow, despite what Jack had put him through, Daniel still knew that this bed was a safe place. He didn’t have to hide anything here. Not from Jack.

His hand still stroking Daniel’s cheek, Jack leaned forward to press their foreheads together. Daniel draped an arm around Jack’s back, holding for a moment, then shifted to bury his face into Jack’s shoulder, finally going to sleep in Jack’s arms.

 _It’s not okay,_ Jack thought as he drifted off. _Of course it’s not. But it’s going to be. I promise, Danny. It’s going to be._

And he truly believed that. Jack had promised Melburn that he would take care of Daniel, and that was what he was going to do. He was going to help Daniel through this, and they’d manage eventually. They’d just have to do it the way they did everything—together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to read a short piece of fluff about what would have happened if Claire and Melburn survived, please click to part two of the series this work is in. Please note that it is not an alternate ending, but literally just a random scene afterwards as though everyone lived.
> 
> If you would like to let this original ending remain untarnished, you have no obligation. This story is complete.


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